Make A Wish
by aria710
Summary: AU. What if Bulma does get her original wish for the perfect boyfriend? But what if this wish sends her to one of Frieza's space stations or , more specifically, the Saiyan Prince's quarters? Be careful what you wish for.
1. How To 'Not' Phrase A Wish

A/N: I normally don't write AU's but I had this idea, and I'm running with it. I would just like to say I haven't watched the original Dragon ball series for like...10 years so please excuse me for any errors in the story that actually could be left canon. And yeah, this story probably should be under the Dragon ball category (timeline wise), but Vegeta doesn't exist as a character then :)

Oh and although _I_ haven't watched Dragon ball in awhile, it may be helpful to watch Episode 12 of the Emperor Pilaf saga. But the gist is easy enough to get...

Disclaimer: I own none of DB/DBZ/DBGT, but I could only imagine how cool it would be if I did.

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There was only one thing she had wanted. Just one tiny little thing that she had spent forever trying to get. And now she wouldn't even get to make her wish, all thanks to some little blue creep with a Napoleon complex. All she could do was pace throughout this cell, watching helplessly as her wish went to ruin.

_I'll never get the perfect boyfriend now._

The sky was pitch black until the Eternal Dragon flashed through the air, shining brilliantly and then staring back at Pilaf with red eyes. She fell back a little, stunned at its presence but even more infuriated that _she_ wasn't the one out there. "Can't you try harder, Goku?"

"I'm trying Bulma! Hold on a sec..." The younger boy hopped up and stared at the small, circular hole carved into the grey jail cell. It was the window she had been staring out of, but it seemed Goku had other plans. "KAAA...MEE..."

She knew what was coming. Quickly, Bulma slid away from the hole, smiling to herself as she saw the beam of blue energy swirl around in the boy's hands.

"HAA...MEEE..." Goku then released his hand, letting the ball of pure energy fill the room, "HAAAA!"

Bulma closed her eyes, worried for a second that the powerful blast wouldn't even leave a dent. But to her luck, the wall crumpled and she was able to see Pilaf (and more importantly the dragon) mere feet away.

"Perfect! Move it or lose it!" She thundered past Goku and Yamcha, not caring that she may have stepped on the latter's hand. There was _no _way she was going to lose out on her wish now. "Look, little man." She positioned her hands on her hips as she approached the so called emperor, "I don't care about you or if you want to rule the world. Whatever, great for you."

"Bulma..." Oolong was approaching her, entirely confused on where she was going with this. Couldn't he see that not only was she going to save the world but...

She ignored him and went on, happy that she managed to hold Pilaf's attention away from the dragon. "Let me just say one thing." Bulma paused a minute to gather her thoughts. _Now how should I phrase this..._

"My patience dwindles." The reverberating voice of the dragon practically made her cringe. "Make your wish quickly."

Pilaf turned towards the towering green dragon and opened his mouth. But the words never escaped his lips. He was tossed aside aggressively by the young teenage girl. "Here's the wish! I wish I were with my perfect man!"

"WHAT?"

There seemed to be a consensual outburst of confusion at her words from her friends nearby and Pilaf and his lackeys. But it didn't matter. The one granting her perfect wish just seemed to slowly nod. "So be it."

At first she thought nothing was going to happen. She had wished to be with her perfect, brand new boyfriend, obviously because if she stayed here, it would mean she'd have to go through another one of Goku's fights. Bulma was already confident enough that the little boy would be more than fine without her. _Eating all the bugs and lizards he wants while I'll be dining with some charming...dashing..._

Her thoughts fell back in her head as she saw the dragon's red eyes flash sharply. Their light seemed to emit across the dark landscape, hazing the atmosphere in a bloody red screen. A rush of cold fear crept through her body as her vision suddenly went black. She could no longer hear the appalled remarks of her friends or the crackling of the lightning from the sky. All she saw was black. All she could hear was silence. It was strangely deafening.

Her body felt suddenly constricted, tightly packed like she was being forced into some weird tube. The blackness seemed to envelop her, crushing her ribs and, yet, at the same time propelling her upwards. The air was extremely thin around her, and she felt as if she might pass out. _What's going on? _

She couldn't help but think that maybe these dragon balls weren't exactly the perfect wish granters like she had originally thought. Her body seemed to be stuck in this black void, and she thought it might take an eternity before she could see again.

But it was really only a few more seconds.

The hum of artificial lighting was the first thing she noticed. Then the soft electric hue of the overhead lamp came into focus as she realized she was flat on her back, pressed against a _very_ cold floor. "Ow." Bulma tried to sit up, but found her head extremely heavy. The weird room was suddenly spinning, and she fell back on the ground, nauseated.

"What the hell was that?" She seemed to be seeing things. Rubbing her blue eyes harshly, she tried to refocus, but this...this wasn't right. She wasn't on some romantic coastline or fancy French restaurant. There was no tall, dark, handsome man running up to her, ready to fully embrace her.

This room she was in was practically barren. Just grey white walls, a desk with neatly stacked papers, and one bed in the corner. It was like a prison cell, only less cheery. Slowly, Bulma went to her feet, hands close to her sides in slight fear. _Where am I?_

She went to the desk to try and look at the papers, but they were all written in some strange alphabet she'd never seen before. "Weird." Her hands then fumbled through the drawers in a small attempt to figure out her location, but all she saw were wraps of gauze and a pair of strange glasses with only one lens.

"Well, I'm _not_ staying in here all day." Bulma went up to the weird door, but saw that it would only open under a series of codes. "Oh great." She turned her attention to the keypad next to it. "Come on, Bulma. You're gonna be head of Capsule Corp. one day...the least you can do is hack one measly code." But she couldn't even read the numbers. It was unlike any language she had seen before, and she wasn't exactly uneducated. She counted the numbers off silently in her head, starting first with one of the more common codes. _1,2,3,4._

Bulma wasn't surprised to see the keypad silently flash and then go back to normal, the door still locked shot. "Okay...let's give it another try." But those numbers didn't seem to work either. She grunted to herself and then pressed another code, knowing this was all probably a little hopeless.

"JUST OPEN!" She reentered another series of numbers, praying that the metal door would finally let her leave this boring, cramped room, but it seemed that after the 5th try, the door finally had enough. As her fingers touched the enter button, a piercing alarm suddenly went off. Red light flashed throughout the room making her cringe back onto the lone, tiny bed. Her heart started pounding at the noise.

It only took a second for her to really figure it out.

Scary alarms. Tiny, uncomfortable beds. Locks on doors that prevent you from _leaving_.

_I'm in jail._

She bit her lip.

_Oh no...What if the guy I love is a murderer?_

Bulma shook her head, trying to calm herself. But she just inched onto the bed more, hugging her knees to her chest.

_Or what if I'm in some kind of asylum? What if he's some psycho?_

The red flashes just kept going, she could hear yelling now throughout the hall, some in English and some in some weird language very unfamiliar.

Her heart kept plunging deeper and deeper into her chest. _ What if he's a psychopathic murderer?_

She couldn't help but smile slightly at that. _Yeah right, Bulma, like the eternal dragon would really send you to a psycopat-_

"SIR! The alarm sprang from Vegeta's quarter's sir!"

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A/N:

bad ending, I know, but I had no other place to stop it without making this chapter super, duper long. but that's good because it means I have a lot more to update with! reviews = my true love :)


	2. Meeting a Prince

A/N:

Hi guys! This is pretty good updating, no? Let me just get to the chase: Thanks everyone for reading (my hits count says 0 people have read this story, but I'm figuring that's a lie)! And also special thanks to the people who favorited this story (AmberVaporeon, pink-strawberries, seti31, and Silent Black Rose).

Also thanks thanks thanks soo much for my reviewers!(_Yaji's Girl, Miss tis, menga88, The Azu Soul Lilly, _and _pink-strawberries _(again!))_. _By the way Yaji's Girl, I think the answer to your question will soon be answered in this chapter!_  
_

You guys that put this on your alertness are also pretty awesome :D Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I do not own DB/DBZ/DBGT so don't sue me. You won't get much out of me anyway...

* * *

The recognizable words made her smile, but only briefly. Whoever was shouting seemed to be telling someone to come here. To Veggi...whoever's room.

_I need to hide._

"Are you sure about that?"

This was a different voice, much softer, much more _attractive_ sounding. Bulma's heart quickened, but she shook the thought off. She would have plenty of time to find her new perfect boyfriend. Now, she had to hide. She didn't want to get blamed for setting off this incredibly annoying alarm.

"Yes, Lord Zarbon. See? It's the loudest in front of his door, right here."

Zarbon snuffed, "Yes, yes. I can obviously hear that. Why anyone would be sneaking into _Vegeta's_ room though..."

_Hide, hide hide!_

Though she didn't really have too many options. The closet would definitely not fit her. It seemed already over stuffed with this weird blue spandex material. _Don't want to know... _

Bulma had no other option but to roll under the bed, pulling the comforter half way off to block most of her body. Her eyes could see the metal door slide upwards, opening up to a larger hallway where two men seemed to have been standing. "You're dismissed." The one named Zarbon then walked into the room, his yellow-orange boots tapping gracefully across the floor.

_I bet this is him. _

The smooth voice, the easy way his lower half seemed to move...this guy seemed perfect. _All I have to do is take one peek..._

Bulma twisted onto her back and scooted to the edge of the comforter, just enough to get a full view of this guy's face. _THAT'S IT! THAT MUST BE HIM!_

Although light blue wouldn't have been her first choice in skin tone, the man in front of her held such an elegant disposition that she could easily ignore it. He was well built for sure with a long green braid and sparkling golden eyes that caught her off guard. Well, at least one of them was gold. The other was blocked by those weird glasses she had found in the drawer.

She was just about to crawl out of her position from under the bed, when Zarbon touched the strange piece of equipment on his eye, making a beeping noise. "Hmm...power level 2...probably nothing more than a bug. Or maybe a rat..."He quickly turned around, heading straight back to the door. "The monkey can deal with it, no need to get my hands dirty."

"HEY I'M NOT A..."

But he was already gone.

"Huh? I could have sworn..." Bulma blinked. Either she had imagined that whole thing or that guy had moved _fast_. And from the outfit he was wearing, it seemed unlikely that she was in any kind of prison. Brushing what seemed like bits of black hair off her clothes, she sat back down on the bed. "Well at least I've finally met him." She couldn't help but daydream, "My perfect boyfriend...Zarbon..." The teenager raised an eyebrow at the name. "...Maybe not Zarbon. Zar-Zar...Bon-bon? No that's stupid!"

Bulma slid off the bed. Her body felt restless from their first 'meeting'. "He's so cute! I have to look better than this..." She remembered the full length mirror on the front of the closet door and quickly went to it. "Oh, great. I'm still in these." The baggy white pants and weird blue vest weren't really her normal everyday wear. "Let's just see what I have..." She grabbed the capsule of clothes she had always kept in her pocket and threw it on the ground, revealing a fairly large pile of outfits. "Ah! Perfect!" She picked up a short, pink dress and encapsulated the rest. "Get ready, Zarbon!"

She stripped down easily to her underwear, shivering slightly from the cold air that seemed to permeate this entire building. Bending down to pick up her dress, the door to the small room she was in suddenly opened wide. Bulma automatically froze in place and dropped the dress, pure embarrassment swarming through her body.

"Who the hell are you?"

"CLOSE YOUR EYES!" She wasn't facing the door, but the rough, deep tone of the voice clearly indicated the intruder was male.

"I will do no such thing. Now tell me what you're doing here before I blast you to bits!"

"WHAT?" Infuriated, Bulma turned around, grabbing her dress and covering herself with it, too stunned to even attempt to put it on. She was only grateful the metal door had closed behind him otherwise she would be giving the whole building quite a show. "And who are you to say that to a lady! Huh?"

He was no one really. He looked like any other teenage boy she had seen (although maybe a little shorter), which was weird considering there was a blue man in this room only a couple of minutes ago. Only this boy had amazingly tall hair, black with bits of dark brown jutting upwards into a single flame. Like Zarbon, he seemed incredibly in shape and was wearing the same pointy white armor, except with the blue spandex-like suit underneath.

The boy smirked, narrowing his eyebrows and taking slow steps closer to her. "Who am I? Foolish girl." He was dangerously close now, but she didn't really know how that happened. It seemed that at one moment he was taking his sweet time walking over and then _flash_ their noses were practically touching. He sniffed the air before speaking again. _Weird._ "You should know not to be giving me orders."

"Well, right back at ya." Bulma tried stepping back, not at all comfortable at how close this guy was to her, but she found her body falling on to the bed. _Oh great. In my underwear on some random guy's bed. Classy, Bulma Briefs. _The thought made her remember she still had the dress in her hands. She quickly placed it over her head, figuring this guy had already seen her body like this anyway. "Well, if you don't mind...whoever you are, I really need to get going. There's some important person I'm supposed to talk to and..."

"You expect me to just let you leave my room with no explanation to why you were here?"

"Maybe..."

"It seems hard to believe you aren't here to see me."

_What_? _How cocky is this guy?_

But before she could even express her confusion, the boy turned her around, examining her questionably. She felt his eyes focus on a particular southern area, making her body tighten. They continued to linger, and he walked even closer, his breath practically running down her neck. _Oh no, don't..._

"What happened to your tail?"

Bulma had to stifle the laugh. Strangely, this hadn't been the first time the absence of her tail became the topic of the conversation. But this boy sounded a lot more serious than Goku.

"Answer me girl!"

And a lot less patient.

Something in her body told her _not_ to try and explain that normal people didn't have tails. She could feel the energy radiating off this person, and it was slightly terrifying. "...I...don't know."

His eyes seemed strangely concerned, an emotion, she gathered, he did not display too often. "Was it cut off?"

"Umm...Maybe..."

The tension immediately died, and Bulma found it safe to turn around, which suddenly turned into fear when she realized that there was a possibility that tails couldn't be cut off. Or that they could grow back super fast or something.

But the look on the other teenager's face told her that it was an extremely believable lie. His arrogant expression before faded slightly to one of disappointment and somewhat pity. "It could grow back. I've heard that it might be possible."

She had finally noticed his own tail, securely wrapped tightly around his waist. _And here I thought it was just a really fuzzy belt. _ "I ...can't really remember too much. Or anything really...yeah..., um..." Bulma paused, finding that this lying thing might not completely work out. "I was just...I mean, I don't really know how I got here or why. "

Telling someone that felt this powerful about 7 magical balls that could grant any wish didn't seem like the best idea at the moment.

"You said you needed to see someone important." He cocked an eyebrow in slight disbelief.

_Crap, right I did say that_. "Well...I mean, I _think_ I do. Would you have any ideas?"

"Why you're here? No. But you appear to be a female Saiyan returning on some mission from Frieza. Though why you have lost your tail or dyed your hair that _ridiculous_ color is beyond me."

Bulma blinked, "Err...what?"

And then there he was, right in front of her, taking up a fair amount of her personal space. "Your eyes are strange too. What kind of Saiyan are you?"

"...Sai-what?"

But the boy seemed to be lost in his own thoughts for a second. "...But the smell of you... You must have lost your memory and your ship sent you straight back here from the emergency evacuation command."

Even though she knew all of this to be entirely false, she couldn't help but be curious about what he was talking about. "My ship?"

"You don't even remember that? How dim-witted are you?"

"Hey! I'm not stupid. I happen to be very smart!"

"Oh really? Does your memory tell you that?"

_Asshole._ How she would have loved to knock the smirk right off of his face. But her inner instinct was shouting that it probably wouldn't have been the safest route. Besides, she was still really curious to what the heck this guy was talking about. "...Just tell me where I am, please?"

The boy sighed and grabbed the weird glasses from his drawer. "You're currently on Frieza's head space station. You _do _remember who Frieza is, don't you?"

Bulma didn't say a word. She was suddenly rather terrified of this boy. The condescending smirk on his face slowly shifted into a disappointed grimace. And there was that whole initial threat of _blasting _her to bits. _He has a tail...he could be as strong as Goku..._

"NAPPA, COME HERE IMMEDIATELY!"

She couldn't help the laugh from popping out. "Who are you talking to?"

"Someone who may be better prepared to deal with your idiocy. You don't even remember the scouters?" He pointed to the weird glasses, huffed, and sat on the bed, "Tell me what you do remember. Your name possibly? Or maybe it's that ridiculous combination of symbols on your shirt."

Bulma glanced down, only to see that, yes, her name did happen to be on her pink dress. _Well at least this one doesn't say Capule Corp. on it. That would have been a _great_ name. _ "Umm... yeah! Bulma sounds familiar."

"I could give you a more Saiyan appropriate name."

She quickly raised her hands, "No, No! Bulma sounds just fine!" He grunted at that, but Bulma walked forward, her fear of him slowly fading away. "So...what's your name?"

He glanced up, a little shocked, but then huffed. "You really must have lost your memory." At his smirk, the boy seemed to grow taller, the shadow behind him seeming to grow. "My name is Vegeta. Prince Vegeta to you."

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A/N:

All done with this chapter! Thanks for reading guys, and remember to help me out and review!


	3. Tails, Jerks, and a Deal

A/N: short, short chapters. I feel bad so, here's my fast updating for ya.

A lot of you guys are wondering why Vegeta would ever think Bulma was a Saiyan...this chapter should clear that bit up.

Thanks again to all of you who added this chapter to your favorites list (Cara2012, HikariNeko33, miikodesu, romanticizer 101, and svabutterfly...plus all the guys from last time!)

And special thanks to my wonderful reviewers! Without reviews, I probably wouldn't want to update this story! So thankthanksthanks!(_romanticizer 101_, _Yaji's Girl, Cara2012, ILufVeggie, Destiny, Lady Lan, svabutterfly, _and _miikodesu_)

I love all of your comments and guesses! But I'm guessing you'll want me to stop rambling now...

Disclaimer: I'm still poor, so chances are I own none of DB/DBZ/DBGT.

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_WHAT?_ Bulma took a second to take the boy in again. Sure, he was short, but other than that, he did seem rather regal. The way he held his chin, his broad shoulders, everything about him practically screamed _Prince_. But it still shocked her. There weren't really any princes where she was from...not really. And she couldn't help but think how that title made him seem so much more..._attractive. _Shallow though it may be, it wasn't like every other girl _didn't_ dream of a prince riding to her on horseback.

_But a prince with a tail_?

Bulma shrugged. She had seen weirder.

_But what about Zarbon_?

Oh yeah. She had forgotten about him. Her attraction to Zarbon had been immediate. But before she could give another thought to the blue-skinned hunk, the so-called prince was suddenly extremely close to her. Her face immediately flushed, "What are you doing?"

"It's strange..." Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "You don't really seem...Saiyan at all."

The demeaning nature of his voice couldn't help but make her feel insulted. "Hmph, and why is that!"

"You seem too...pathetic."

Her blue eyes widened at the word, and soon she found herself poking the actual Saiyan square in the chest. "Look, mister! I am not pathetic. I don't care how strong you _think_ you are, but I bet one of my friends could easily wipe the floor with you."

"Hmph." He crossed his arms, looking at her with slight annoyance. "Just as I thought. Pathetic. Relying on your friend? I doubt he would even be able to land a punch."

Before Bulma could retort the exact opposite, Vegeta turned his head, suddenly distracted. The metal door soon opened, revealing a tall man with thinning black hair. At first glance, he seemed much more powerful than the teenage boy in front of her, but the expression on his face read differently. "About time, Nappa. Look what I found hiding in my room."

Nappa's nose immediately sniffed the air. His eyes bulged, "...Why does she smell like a Saiyan?"

"Idiot. That's what I'm trying to figure out." He pushed a button on his supposed scouter. "Her power level is a measly 2, yet the stench is all over her."

The taller man nodded in agreement. "Does Frieza know she's here?"

"Absolutely not!' Vegeta huffed, "Her power level is so low he'll think it's a mouse."

Bulma's fist tightened, "I'm not a..."

"What I don't understand is how the hell she got here."

Nappa chuckled at his prince, "Why don't you ask..."

"I did you buffoon! She has no memory! Blasted girl."

The older Saiyan grunted and looked at her, his eyes seeming to burn. "You sure about that?"

Bulma blinked, seeing that Vegeta had suddenly vanished, but then gasped as he grabbed her throat, holding her inches off the floor. She squirmed in his grip, but it was so tight. His hands felt like metal, cold and strong against her soft skin.

"Tell me who you are," he spat at her bitterly.

Whatever thought Bulma had of this guy being her one and only soon vanished. He was practically cracking her jaw, all the while holding a stupid smirk on his face.

She couldn't speak. Hell, she couldn't even breathe. Her alert eyes suddenly locked on this monster's, glaring at her with a ferocity that made her heart drop and stomach want to hurl. But Bulma wouldn't let him get the best of her. She didn't go across the world and find all 7 dragon balls just to be man handled by some creep. She let go of her saliva, splattering it across the prince's face.

"You bitch!" A shining blue light ignited in Nappa's hand, immediately causing Bulma to shrink back as Vegeta released her.

"Nappa." Vegeta wiped his face and then turned to his fellow Saiyan, "Put your damn hand down, Nappa."

Nappa stuttered, "...But...sire..."

"Get out, Nappa!" Vegeta's flash of anger was suddenly directed away from her. Bulma couldn't help but sigh in relief. "You're obviously not competent enough to deal with this. Get out of my sight."

The tall Saiyan mumbled incoherently and then excused himself from the room. Bulma's hand shot up to her throat, massaging the region where Vegeta had gripped her so tightly. "What is your problem!"

"Shut up, girl." Vegeta was closing his eyes, apparently thinking. If she hadn't seen him two seconds earlier, she might have been under the impression that this kid was not a homicidal maniac. He looked so pensive now, so composed. It was truly mind boggling.

Bulma huffed, "You could try to be nicer after attempting to strangle me! What kind of prince are you anyway?"

His eyes flashed open at that, and Bulma felt herself move back in slight fear, "You could try, girl, to gather what little respect you may possess in that pathetic, weak body of yours. I am the Prince of all Saiyans, a race that I feel foolish for ever associating _you_ with."

Vegeta frowned, confused at the lack of fear in her eyes. "But if you must know what I'm doing, I'm trying to think of what to do with you."

Her mind pleaded for her not to ask, but she was never really any good at obeying. "...what are the options exactly?"

"Oh, there are multiple options. One is, of course, to kill you." He smirked seeing her externally flinch. "Two, I could have some _fun_ with you and then kill you."

Bulma bit her lip, suddenly extremely self conscious of what she was wearing.

"Three, I could keep you here and figure out why you smell of Saiyan when you seem to not be one. Or I could find a way to return you back to where you came from."

"That last option sounds like the best to me..." Bulma bit her lip, seeing Vegeta's visible annoyance when she spoke.

He smirked. "Funny, I thought the exact opposite. Though maybe I will follow through and return you home."

Bulma's eyes brightened, "You would, really?" She blinked for a second at his arrogant air. "What's the catch?"

"Excuse me?"

"You know...the motive. What do you get out of all this?"

Vegeta huffed, "You're not as dumb as I originally thought." He crossed the room, letting his tail unravel and whip across the air. Bulma looked at it, a little nostalgic of the boy she knew back home. Maybe her wish had been selfish after all. The Saiyan Prince continued, "Since you're entirely too hideous to have any use to me sexually, I'll just need to use you as a spy."

She didn't know whether to feel relieved or insulted. Bulma opted for relieved. "Spy...what for?"

"There's an alien here that I would very much like to kill." Vegeta's eyes suddenly became dark, fists clenching to suppress some sort of fury. His voice was extremely rough when he spoke again, "Tell me how."

All of that went a little over her head. _What is this guy talking about_? From the look of Vegeta, she could obviously tell that what he was asking of her was extremely important. But how did he expect her to ever accomplish that? "Who is it?"

"Frieza."

Bulma placed her hands on her hips, "You mean the guy who owns this space station? What did he ever do to you?"

She felt the wind rush around her as Vegeta appeared in front of her again. The heat of his breathe practically burned through her. "_That_ is none of your concern, girl. You will do what I say, or you will no longer be able to move."

"Oof, tough guy, aren't we?" She should have probably been a little more afraid of him, but there was something about the little prince that made her feel eerily comfortable. _Maybe the tail really does remind me too much of Goku._ Bulma held up her hands, watching Vegeta's body tense. "Alright, alright. I know when I don't have a lot of choices. I'll see what I can find out about this guy. But just one more thing?"

He seemed annoyed at the question, but didn't say anything more. Bulma took that as Vegeta's strange way of letting her speak.

She coughed, "What's a Saiyan?"

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A/N:

I have so many chapters to post! (yay for winter break!) And I think tomorrow's will be a long one! If people seem to be super curious, I may post it later tonight (we'll see). But I hope you all enjoyed this chapter!


	4. Thoughts of a Saiyan

A/N:

I know the other one's have been short...but that's my own fault of just writing and writing and not thinking of good places to end things. But this one is ...about double the length of last chapter! Yay! So sorry for anyone who thought last chapter was short! Hopefully this will compensate, and my other posts will probably also be about this length or a little shorter.

Back to things that actually matter...Thanks guys for all of the reviews and favorites and alerts! Fanfiction is being dumb, so I _still _don't have any hits for this story. But that's obviously wrong.

Trying to determine the new people who favorited is too hard for me in my current couch-potato state, but you guys know who you are! and you're awesome :D

Reviewers are a little easier to determine: Thanks,_ Fantasywriter14 _(I hope Vegeta isn't too creepy:P), _Miss Tis, peachykeen01, Cara2012, Black Diamond07, Shadowwithin, bluexrasberryx, Astycat, The Azu Soul Lilly, romanticizer101 _(all of your questions will be answered! eventually! sorry :D), _Sandwich-chan_, and _svabutterfly_!

phew, so many people! Oh and if you're wondering about Turles because I kind of only mention Raditz and Nappa in this story...I guess I like to pretend that some of the movies just didn't happen because they don't make sense in my mind. Like _Tree of Might _fits in...no where in the canon, so I like to pretend it just doesn't exist. Whoops.

Enough of me talking.

Disclaimer: Writing this makes me sad but I don't own DB/DBZ/DBGT. Weird AU plot, however, is mine.

Just kidding! One more note. I'm not sure what is considered "T" language. But this is Vegeta, and I'm pretty sure if a teenage Vegeta existed he'd drop the F-bomb. Just a heads up.

* * *

"_I'm_ a Saiyan. One of the most feared warrior alien races the galaxy has ever seen." He eyed her suspiciously "I was beginning to think you lied about having amnesia." Bulma hated how his gaze felt focused on her. Vegeta looked practically predatory.

"No...But I agree that I don't think I'm a ...Sayawha..."

"Saiyan." His voice was gruff and short.

"Right, Saiyan. Can't really picture myself ever having a tail."

Vegeta looked at her scornfully, "It was foolish of me ever to think that there was a possibility of seeing a Saiyan female."

That took her a little by surprise. "Why would that be so weird?" A sudden thought came to her. "You do _know_ what a girl looks like, don't you?" She started patting herself, much like her little friend had the first time they had met. "Or do you have to check?"

"What the Hell are you doing?" Vegeta immediately took her hand away. "I won't tolerate such provocative touching in my presence. It's demeaning."

"Provocative?" Bulma raised an eyebrow, giggling to herself at Vegeta's lightly flushed features. "Oh...I get it. You're no better than Goku, are you?" She laughed again seeing his confused expression, "Well, maybe a little better since you actually seem to recognize that I'm a girl. But you've never actually interacted with any, have you? You're stuck on this stupid ship full of men!"

"It is not like I chose this for myself, Girl."

Bulma narrowed her eyes. "Then why are you here?"

She had listened intently to Vegeta's story. It was obvious that he had left out _a lot_, especially the stuff concerning him specifically. There was something about how he was taken away from his planet when he was little and now he works for Frieza. Though the actual reason behind his 'kidnapping;' was something Vegeta chose to keep to himself. But he did make it clear that he was from a very, _very_ noble race. And that his entire race was basically destroyed by his alien kidnapper.

"He was afraid of us. Of what we could be."

Bulma watched Vegeta carefully. For someone so clearly insane, he sure was neat. He cleanly unfolded his gloves, taking off his armor and boots with clear precision and purpose. Everything was laid out smoothly in his drawers, not an item or fold out of place. His tidiness strangely made her feel secure. It reminded her of the sterile nature of a lab, an environment she immediately associated with her father. "Which was..."

"Nothing." Vegeta tossed his armor casually into the closet. At least, it looked casual. The armor clanged against the back of the closet wall, creating a large dent where it made contact. Bulma gulped and then looked back to Vegeta, who seemed incredibly unfazed. "Just a stupid myth."

She waited for Vegeta to walk over and straighten out his armor. But he didn't. He laid out on his bed, staring up at the metal ceiling and seeming to forget that she was there. "Umm...Vegeta?"

"What, Girl?"

"...What am I supposed to say...you know to Frieza?" She sat on the floor, the cold air making her shiver and creating goose bumps across her pale arms and legs. "You make him seem like a pretty evil guy, and if he doesn't hesitate committing genocide, I don't think he'll mind killing..."

"He won't kill you."

He said it with such certainty. "And why is that?"

Vegeta didn't turn to look at her. He closed his eyes, half muttering the answer. "He won't upset his pet monkey." The amount of disdain riddled in his voice practically made her flinch.

_Who is this Frieza guy? _ He must have been pretty intimidating. Vegeta had that huge guy Nappa easily wrapped around his finger, but yet, for some reason, the Saiyan Prince seemed afraid of Frieza. _He has to be powerful though. He destroyed an entire race!_

"You're mine, got it?" Vegeta sounded perfectly awake, but when Bulma looked over he seemed to be asleep, except for the unceasing tension in his muscles.

She stood up, disgusted at the idea, and hovered over the prince. "I am _not _property."

"Hmph." He smirked, looking perfectly evil even with his eyes shut. "You'll either belong to me or be dead, Girl. Don't be stupid." Vegeta said no more after that, not listening to Bulma's huffs and annoyed stomps on the metal floor.

"We'll just see about that!" She snapped and turned to face the exit of the room. Bulma stomped off, but then stopped, realizing that she still didn't know the combination to open the door. "Vegeta!" The sleeping figure made no answer, but she knew he had heard her. "Vegeta! Where am I supposed to sleep?"

He grunted, "Why should I care?" Vegeta removed the scouter from the side of his face, setting it on the desk flushed against his bed. With a quick tap on the control panel behind him, the lights faded to blackness, leaving Bulma completely stunned.

_Jerk. _ She plopped onto the floor while her blue eyes tried to adjust to the light. How did she ever get into these messes? All she wanted was the perfect boyfriend. That's it. It wasn't supposed to be this difficult. She wasn't supposed to meet Goku or be imprisoned by little, power hungry emperors. And she _definitely_ wasn't supposed to be in space, spying on a tyrant responsible for the genocide of probably more than one alien race.

_Only you, Bulma Briefs_. She glanced over to the sleeping prince, watching his tense chest rise swiftly and fall. It was confusing to think that, not only did aliens exist, but that they could appear so _human_. She had no doubt that Goku must have been this 'Saiyan' thing too. He was strong, had no idea how to interact with normal people, and not to mention possessed a monkey tail.

And though it was weird to think that the little boy she had been traveling with was an alien, it also made her kind of glad. If Goku could get to Earth, then she could get there too. All she had to was figure out how to escape this stupid Saiyan Prince.

_Tomorrow I'll wait to see the code. He'll have to leave this room without me at some point. _

She smiled at the plan and then lay flat on the cold, metal floor, trying to think of any possible holes.

_I don't like that 'scouter' thing._

But if she had to be completely honest with herself, the piece of technology fascinated her. It seemed to be a communicator, plus a 'power level' recognition device. And although she wasn't quite certain what Vegeta and Nappa had meant by power level, she was pretty sure that the device currently sitting on Vegeta's bedside could track her. That was something she definitely couldn't afford.

She slid silently across the room. The prince seemed so on edge; she was almost certain that he heard her grab the scouter off of his desk. But his body didn't move except for the rhythmic deep breaths of sleep. Bulma smiled at her success and then pressed what appeared to be the 'on' button. The scouter beeped in response, and she immediately froze. But one glance towards Vegeta proved to show that he was still asleep. Bulma grunted. _Some warrior he is._

It was a little surprising to see that 'English' was actually an option on the scouter. Vegeta himself seemed fluent enough in the language. She didn't bother to question why aliens seemed to know what she thought was a local Earth language. Some things weren't really worth thinking about.

Especially when trying to hack a piece of alien equipment. "Stupid...scouter...a ha!" Bulma immediately covered her mouth at the raised whisper, and she heard Vegeta rustle above her. _Crap, crap!_

But he just turned to his side, letting his brown tail fall over the bed. Bulma half smirked to herself. She looked over at Vegeta's small, but insanely muscular figure. If he hadn't been such a jerk, she might have ventured to think he was cute.

Placing the scouter back on the desk, Bulma then made her way towards the closet, pulling out several of the spandex blue suits and setting them down on the metal floor. _If the prick won't give me a bed, I'll just have to make one. _It wasn't exactly comfortable, but she didn't really have the luxury of being picky. Bulma closed her eyes, half hoping she would wake back up with Goku and Yamcha beside her.

* * *

_What an idiotic girl. _

Vegeta looked at the figure on his floor painfully. She had no right to go through his things, and then to _lay _in them? She looked like a wild, dirty animal.

He didn't even want to think about what she tried to do with his scouter. It was disrespectful enough for her to touch his clothing, let alone one of the most valuable pieces of equipment he owned. Vegeta hesitantly placed the device back over his eye, confident that such a stupid being couldn't have done anything too damaging.

It was 2:25 AM, a time too early even for Frieza's soldiers. Which made it the perfect time for Vegeta to start training. He punched in the four digits on the keypad and slipped out of his room, only allowing himself a brief second to look at the girl on the floor.

She seemed so calm, so _peaceful_. He shook his head in annoyance. _Doesn't she realize where she is? And yet she's sleeping like an innocent baby. _ The florescent lighting from the hallway spread smoothly through the opening of his door, casting delicate shadows over her cheekbones.

Vegeta bit his lip, feeling something turn in his stomach, and then immediately closed the door behind him as he entered the hallway. "Wretched creature." He pushed away that feeling swarming his mind. Her small, lithe body nestled into his battle gear, strange blue hair tangled across her face. Vegeta unconsciously started typing back the code for his room, but quickly stopped. He hissed silently to himself. _It's only the Saiyan adolescent development! Focus Vegeta!_

There was no time to waste on indulging his more...feral needs. If that girl ever wanted to be sent home, she would find out Frieza's weakness from his pathetic lackeys. But that didn't excuse his training. He had to reach absolute power if he were ever to face Frieza and obtain his freedom and revenge.

A sudden rush of panic flashed over him, and he turned around to see if anyone was nearby. He clenched his fists, infuriated. He was a fucking _prince_! He shouldn't have to feel like he was being hunted. He didn't have to stand for these fucking imbeciles, keeping him caged like a lowly rat!

His anger propelled him to the training room where he started lifting weight after weight. His muscles bulged after each repetition, but he continued, not stopping until his arms couldn't bear to be lifted over his head.

That was when he started running, letting his legs be pummeled until he could barely walk out to the rejuvenation tanks hours later.

"Punishing ourselves yet again, Vegeta? Don't Dodoria and Zarbon do that enough for you?"

The Saiyan Prince didn't even try to hold back his disdain as he entered the medical facility. "One day I'll have the pleasure of tearing you bit by bit Appule."

The weird headed alien laughed and patted Vegeta strongly on the back, purposely hitting the sorest of spots to make him flinch. "Oh, little prince, I wouldn't be the one acting so cocky. Especially since Frieza puts me in charge of monitoring your trips to the tank."

"Shut up and just set it for two hours."

Appule grunted to himself and opened the door to the tank, letting Vegeta enter the strange water.

* * *

"Where the Hell were you?"

He didn't know what the stupid girl was complaining about. He was actually out an hour earlier than he would have liked. His arms still felt heavy with weights at Appule's little joke to have the rejuvenation machine suddenly 'malfunction' after only an hour.

"And you look horrible."

He looked at the mirror hanging on his closet door, only to confirm the girl's statement. There were cuts all across his face and arms, bruises lining his legs and neck. But the worse had to be the giant burn gash on his leg. The blood still trickled out of the wound and onto the once clean floor.

The girl rushed over to him, touching his face and arms with such a delicacy that it made his body rigid. _What is she doing?_ Her blue eyes searched all over his torn blue spandex suit and broken armor. "What happened, Vegeta?" She sounded almost angry.

Vegeta raised an eyebrow. _What's her motive? _ He pushed her off of him, sending her flying on to his bed. "It's none of your business!"

She had no right to know about how he met Dodoria in the hallway,

"_If it isn't the little Prince of the Monkeys! Feeling all high and mighty today, Vegeta?"_

_He grunted away. The rejuvenation chamber had barely lifted off the wounds from his intense workout. And as much he would have loved to get into a fight with Dodoria, just to punch the giant pink blob just once, his whole body ached with misery._

"_Excuse me."_

"_Ohhh! Look who's finally showing a little respect!" The pink monstrosity vanished, only to reappear in front of Vegeta's retreating small frame, smirking. "I have a riddle for you, Vegeta."_

"_Don't waste my time."_

"_No, no...it's real simple. Even someone with a tiny monkey brain like yours can figure it out. We'll make a game out of it." Dodoria raised one finger in the air. "You'll have one free guess, after that, no promises, okay?"_

_Vegeta grunted. He wasn't fast enough to escape Dodoria's clutches...not yet._

"_I'll take that as a yes. Here's the riddle. 'What's short, weak, and has no reason for living?'"_

_Vegeta's lips curled in complete anger. The vision in his eyes flashed red. He wanted to pummel him, send Dodoria flying straight through the wall and into space where he would slowly asphyxiate. _In time...In time...

"_Well, Vegeta?" Dodoria's smile grew._

"_I don't know."_

_Dodoria frowned, "Oh, come on Vegeta. I'll just have to count that as your first guess. I know you're stupid, but think really, REALLY hard. It's incredibly small with no power. It may as well shrivel up and die from uselessness. Now...what is it?"_

_Vegeta smirked, "Your penis."_

_His breathe immediately fell flat as the pink fist collided with his abdomen, causing him to crash onto his knees. Cracks were made into the hard floor as his joints made the impact. Dodoria grabbed Vegeta by the tip of his flame tipped hair, expecting the Saiyan to shriek. But Vegeta just stared him down, all too used to the pain his head was throbbing with. "Smart ass. I'll give you two more guesses and then I may have to snap off that tail."_

He didn't need Nappa to step in to remind Dodoria about how upset Frieza would be about this infraction. _Stupid caveman. I need to learn how to handle them myself!_

"Fine, bleed all over your floor, like I care." She crossed her arms and lay flat on his bed, stretching out on the mattress and letting her eyes flutter to a close.

Vegeta paid her no attention, forcing himself to look away from her tiny frame positioned so easily on his bed. He focused instead on his pain, letting it rattle through him. This had been his life ever since he was a small child, and he was not going to let some moronic girl distract him.

His agile hands quickly pulled out the black first aid kit from his desk drawer. It stung his body to move, but he kept going. First was the burn cream, then the gauze. He winced as he reached towards the ki wound.

When he had finished applying the bandages, he turned back to the girl, who still lay on his bed. He cleared his throat before speaking, "Girl, I do not want an emaciated corpse stinking up my quarters."

She got up at this, blinking at him with those strange blue eyes of hers. _Who cursed her with such disgustingly colored eyes?_ She scratched her equally grotesque hair and then spoke. "Huh?"

"You are to accompany me to the Dining Hall."

The girl grinned. _Why is she smiling like that?_ "Is that your weird way of asking me to eat with you, Vegeta?"

"_Prince _Vegeta, girl."

She shrugged, "It's _Bulma_. Tell you what. I'll call you by your title, if you recognize that I may have a _name_."

"A name you can't even remember."

He noticed her hesitate at that. But the girl seemed to recover quickly. "Any name is better than being called _Girl_. I don't call you _weird alien boy_." She paused for a second, "...though now that I mention it..."

"Girl, I'm hungry. You can either sit here and rot or..."

"Coming!" He felt her eyes on his hand as he punched in the four digits, but paid it no real attention.

His fellow Saiyan, Nappa, was waiting against the wall of the hallway, but he immediately stood up straight and bowed at Vegeta's presence. "Vegeta, you're bringing the girl with you?"

He heard her mutter behind him, "He gets to call you Vegeta..."

"Nappa, I think I want to keep her."

The older Saiyan raised an eyebrow, "She _is_ Saiyan then, isn't she?"

"Don't be an idiot. Her power level would be demeaning for even a Saiyan baby. But the smell on her still makes me wonder if there are others out there." He was actually being truthful about that. Besides Nappa, himself and some third class Raditz, Vegeta had no other knowledge of any other Saiyans being alive. But obviously the girl hadn't been around them, which begged to question if there were any more of his race.

"Vegeta, you're the Crown Prince of Vegete-sei, and you don't even know what this _creature..._"

"I am not keeping her as a mate, Nappa! She is for pure enjoyment only while I rot in this Hellhole. Do _not_ question my decisions again!" He didn't hide the anger in his voice. Nappa was his subordinate, and he wasn't a helpless child anymore. Hell, he had never been helpless!

Grabbing the girl's hand, Vegeta dragged her through the hallway, leaving Nappa to follow them from behind. He ignored the girl's constant muttering of 'mate?' and 'enjoyment' and continued on to the dining hall. Nappa would ruin the plan if he knew. He was becoming uncertain that the other Saiyan had wanted Frieza dead like he did.

Vegeta had seen it in his eyes. Nappa was beginning to like the raids. He looked _forward_ to being assigned on another mission. Vegeta had to admit, a part of him enjoyed the violence; it was his Saiyan nature after all. He thrived on battle, on wars, on stronger rivals. But he'd be damned to be reduced to a fucking mercenary, killing children just because someone told him to.

"You're hurting my wrist!"

He looked back to the girl who immediately exhaled as Vegeta let his grip loose. _What a pathetic being! She'll break if I poke her!_ Vegeta peered down the hall, glad to see Nappa paused by one of Frieza's other henchman. "You are not to tell Nappa about our little deal, Girl."

"...Why not?" She looked at him sincerely.

"Because he'll ruin it. Just play along."

"Whatever you say, your _highness_."

He smirked at her sarcasm. Pathetic, yes, but he could not deny that this 'Bulma' was keeping him amused. His satisfied expression only increased when she flinched at his touch on her hand. Vegeta roughly brought her into the dining hall, where they were immediately met with dozens of looks from the eating soldiers. "You are not to speak, touch, or look at anyone unless I say." He raised his voice for everyone in the room to hear. "Do I make myself clear?"

The girl gulped at his tone and nodded, following him into the dark, crowded room.

* * *

A/N:

Isn't it weird how aliens just know English (or Japanese)? Well, if Akira Toriyama is ignoring that detail, I am too. I like suspension of disbelief.

Hope you guys liked it! Review and I'll post another chapter shortly :)


	5. Memory 'Restored' and Wish Fufilled?

A/N:

I hope I didn't spoil you guys too much with every day updates... I might be slowly running behind on writing since I'm going back to college soon (sigh.), but I promise to always update within a decent time period (like _at least_ once a month), and I'll most certainly finish this story (though that seems very far away). I like this idea too much to abandon it, and I've already planned most of the plot out, so I shouldn't be getting writer's block any time soon.

It's thank you time! Once again, I want to extend my eternal gratitude to everyone who adds this story to their alert/favorite list. And me to their author's list? That's pretty awesome as well. Everyone who reads this is also pretty damn cool. Fanfiction finally counts my hits! Yay! I'd bake you all cookies if this weren't the internet and if there weren't thousands of you...

I love my reviewers! So special, super, ultra thanks to all of them! (_Cara2012, menga88, Lady Lan_ (I'm glad you agree!), _romanticizer101_ (I like the idea of the interlude...but I better watch Dragon Ball again!),_ Hannon7, Sandwich-chan_ (I THOUGHT OF THE SAME THING),_ Black Diamond07, omgOver9000, Writer-Person _(aww thanks so much!), _Miss Tis_ (it's all better now!), _Alex274, and Princess Kedeta_). Phew, all of you are equally magnificent.

One day my A/N's will be short. Sorry!

Disclaimer: I still don't own DB/DBZ/DBGT. But I do own some video games, action figures, and movies...if that counts.

* * *

She never thought she'd be clinging to Vegeta. But she was seriously terrified at some of the heated glances she was feeling on her body. The Saiyan Prince no longer needed to drag her. She was practically stepping on his heels, hanging onto his back like a shadow. "I don't like it here."

"Shut up, Girl." His rough voice was loud, but then softened as he stopped and turned half way around. "Do not talk to me unless spoken to, understand?" There was something in his voice that almost sounded like worry.

Bulma nodded her head and continued the seemingly long trek to the Saiyan's table, eyes permanently glued on the floor.

"Sit down, Girl."

She did what she was told. Bulma was never one to follow orders so easily, but there was a difference in Vegeta's tone. He wasn't ordering her around for his own egotistical boost. The murmuring of the dozens of warriors surrounding her said that he was doing it for _her_.

"Nappa will come and give us both food. You are to eat it, and then we are leaving."

_Sounds so complicated! _ She held back her snappy remark, but Vegeta smirked, seeming to sense it in her eyes. "Yes, your highness."

His gloved finger went under her chin, toughly pulling it up, "I see, Girl, you're finally giving me the respect I deserve."

"Hmmm..." She ran a finger down his jawbone, grinning when she saw the teenage boy's face slightly flush, "Just wait until we get back to your room." Her tone turned rough towards the end, and she quickly placed her hand back at her side, frowning at Vegeta from across the metal table.

"Vegeta."

The soft voice hit Bulma immediately. _Zarbon!_ Now was her opportunity to speak to her absolute perfect guy in the whole universe, and the stupid moron across from her ordered her not to look at him!

"What do you want, Zarbon?" Vegeta tried to sound bored, but there was slight frustration in his voice.

The other alien's gold eyes seemed to twinkle with some sort of humor, "I want to know who this _lovely_ creature is beside you. Don't tell me you're keeping her, Vegeta!"

"So what if I..."

"Hi!" Bulma held out her hand, smiling sharply at Zarbon and careful to ignore the fuming Vegeta across from her. "I'm Bulma! What's your name?"

Zarbon smiled charmingly at her, taking her hand and kissing it so delicately. His lips on her skin, however, felt so cold, almost reptilian. _Okay...minor disadvantage, but I can look past it if he's a better kisser on the lips. _ "My name, Miss Bulma, is Lord Zarbon. It is truly a pleasure to meet you."

_How dreamy..._ She practically melted in front of him.

Zarbon noticed the look on her face and slid onto the bench next to her. "Vegeta, you must tell me where you found such a divine being." He ran a finger through her blue hair, playing with its straight stands. Bulma felt herself holding her breathe.

"She was a prisoner on the planet now known as #348. I suppose she's pretty enough to satisfy me for a while."

Bulma shot Vegeta a glare that seemed unnoticed by the blue-skinned alien next to her. "The planet you just finished purging? Aren't you lucky, little prince? " His blue fingers felt cold running across her face, but Bulma shook her head. _You'll get used to that. Just look at him! So cute!_

"Do not touch my property, Zarbon." Vegeta was practically growling.

"My, my..." Zarbon stood up, much to Bulma's dismay, "I didn't know monkeys could be so territorial. Farewell, Miss Bulma." He kissed her hand again, and with a swish of his white cape, left the dining hall.

_He's absolutely perfect. So dreamy. The Eternal Dragon was right! Who cares if I have to deal with this arrogant prince? Zarbon is totally worth it. _ She rested her content head in her palms, elbows on the table in a dream like stare.

"Girl, you were not to speak with him!" His voice had real anger in it, not the put on roughness she had heard when they originally walked into the room.

Bulma raised her nose, "Look, your _highness_, I'm ever so sorry for speaking to the one guy on this ship that is actually _nice _to me."

She watched as the anger flooded his face, making his tan features hued slightly red. "You're a fool. Zarbon is a mass murderer. He'll stab you in your sleep."

Bulma couldn't stop herself from asking, "...Will you?"

Vegeta diverted his eyes to the tall Saiyan approaching. "Finally, Nappa. Did you have to cook the meal yourself?"

"No, Vegeta." Nappa sat down next to his prince, laying down two trays piled with a massive amount of unidentifiable food.

Luckily for Bulma, she noticed a small bowl of weirdly colored rice in the right corner of the tray. She took the bowl gratefully and began eating. "Aren't you going to eat, Nappa?"

Nappa looked stunned to hear her open her mouth. He turned hesitantly to Vegeta. "Your girl just spoke to me."

"Amusing, isn't it?" Vegeta grunted and looked at his food lustfully, "She has a lot of nerve. It'll make her more fun to train."

_Train?_ Bulma opened her mouth, but decided not to speak, noticing Vegeta's glare. _Asshole. As soon as we get out of here..._

"But go ahead and answer her."

Nappa looked even more shocked at that but turned back to Bulma, "I ate before, Girl. And eating right before a fight is never good on the stomach."

_Fight? _ She needed to figure out more about...everything. What exactly did Frieza do...and why did he have all of these great warriors at his beck and call? It didn't really make a lot of sense why a guy who could blow up a whole planet in a single blast had need of an army.

But this wasn't really an army, was it? Vegeta said he had been kidnapped when he was a little boy. An army recruits its soldiers, not steals.

Her eyes bulged a bit at Vegeta's eating. If there was any doubt that Goku wasn't a Saiyan in her mind, it was immediately dismissed while she watched Vegeta eat. The flow of food from the tray and into his mouth seemed never ending. He ate with such speed, it made Bulma want to hurl. Though she had to admit, he gorged on his food a lot more elegantly than Goku did. _Must be that whole prince thing._

"Girl, I said I would not stand for an emaciated corpse."

Bulma could barely gulp down her last bit of rice. "...I'm not hungry anymore." She would never get used to that kind of eating. It really grossed her out.

Nappa grunted, "Definietly not a Saiyan. Vegeta, you should just get rid of her."

She squeaked at that and stole a glance at Vegeta, who stopped inhaling his food for a brief moment. "You are not to give me orders, Nappa." His voice was deathly low. "She will prove her worth to me tonight."

The older Saiyan seemed content with the statement, smirking at his prince and then giving Bulma a once over. "If you get bored with her, don't hesitate to pass her on."

_These guys are such creeps! _Bulma bit her lip, almost breaking the skin.

"We're leaving." His voice had that same low quality to it, and Bulma looked at him oddly. Vegeta was only talking to her, ignoring his subordinate. But before she could think about it any further, he was dragging her through the hallway, going faster than she felt comfortable with.

Her head was spinning as she reentered the Saiyan's room, collapsing silently on her makeshift bed.

"Get up."

"Give me a second."

"Get up!" Vegeta hollered over her, arms cross and face so serious. "How dare you disrespect me like that? Talking to Zarbon and then Nappa after I _clearly_ told you the exact opposite. Learn your place!"

His tone was incredibly biting, making Bulma flinch. After the room stopped twirling, Bulma stood up, hands on her hips. _Screw this guy! He may be a prince but he's not the boss of me! _ "I _know _my place. And it's not being your slave! I believe I was very important where I came from!"

"You don't fucking know anything about yourself!"

"Still! I'm a person! You have no right to ever suggest that I need to follow your orders!" Bulma was fuming. Her eyes were becoming watery with frustration. She didn't do anything to deserve this treatment! So what if her wish was incredibly selfish, it was innocent enough, wasn't it? She didn't wish to be ruler of the world like Pilaf was going to!

Vegeta's eyebrows knitted together, increasing the glare. His voice sounded muffled. "Why should I care about you?"

"Because I'm here to help you...so you help me." Bulma calmed her voice down as well. There was something almost tearful about how the Saiyan looked at the moment. The flash of anger igniting him before vanished at her rebuttals. Bulma sighed, knowing that she probably would regret this, and walked over to him. Her arms immediately moved around Vegeta's body, holding him tightly to his chest.

He was just a boy after all, probably not too much older than her. He had been taken away from his home, only to have it destroyed. It was beginning to sink in that Vegeta must feel incredibly alone, abandoned in space with only Nappa as his company. And as far as Bulma knew, he didn't seem to like Nappa very much. His body felt rigid against her arms, and she realized how uncomfortable he was with this type of contact.

Vegeta verbally confirmed her thoughts, "What are you doing, girl?"

"...I don't know." She broke away and glanced down, not wanting to look at Vegeta directly. "You're not really going to _use_ me tonight, are you?"

The Saiyan huffed and eyed her coolly. "No."

"Then I guess that was a thank you." Bulma half smiled.

"Shut up, girl. Just because you're too disgusting to touch does not mean I won't be putting you to work."

She sighed. _Of course._

Vegeta continued, "As disrespectful as it was for you to talk to Zarbon, he did seem very...comfortable around you. He is Frieza's right hand man. It may be in my best interest if you see him tonight."

Bulma couldn't believe it. Maybe she didn't have to run from Vegeta just yet, not if he was ordering her to go see Zarbon, her one and only. "Really?" She bit back her excitement.

"Yes." Vegeta sounded slightly disgusted. "Though if you mate with that lizard I won't allow you back in this room."

Bulma grunted, "Not really a threat, Vegeta, but gotcha." She was still too young for any of that anyway.

"Now come with me." Vegeta punched in the code again and waited for her to follow him outside into the hallway.

Bulma eyed the sudden command in confusion, "Where are we going?"

"To the rejuvenation tanks. Perhaps you'll be less annoying if you have your memory restored."

* * *

This was truly interesting. She had to close her eyes because the weird liquid she was currently surrounded by burned a little, but she didn't mind. Bulma was on the edge of slipping that she actually didn't have amnesia, so it was nice to have an excuse to have her memory restored.

She wouldn't normally be impressed by such a weird looking machine so easily. Heck, she was used to weird looking machines. But it was astounding how this rejuvenation thing actually seemed to _work_. The slight bruise on her neck from Vegeta's outburst of rage the day before vanished in a matter of minutes.

_Good thing I had a bathing suit in my capsule._

It was amusing to see Vegeta's surprise at her father's invention

"_What the Hell was that?"_

_The smoke cleared from the capsule release, leaving Bulma's pile of clothes in its wake. Bulma opened her mouth, prepared to proudly brag about her genius family, but then remembered she wasn't suppose to remember them. "...Ask me when I get out of that thing." She grabbed her white string bikini, sighing that she didn't have anything more conservative. "Now, turn around while I put this on!"_

_The Saiyan grumbled something about how he 'wasn't listening to her orders but just didn't want to see her revolting body again' and turned. _

The green liquid was soon drained out of the tank, making Bulma shiver from the sudden contact of air. Vegeta pressed a few buttons to open up the chamber and then causally tossed her a big white towel. "Cover yourself up, Girl."

Bulma laughed at his flushed appearance, "Being a teenage boy must be hard, huh?" She swayed over to Vegeta, keeping the towel strewn across her neck and letting the beads of green water fall down her body, "Especially with someone as beautiful as me around, right Vegeta?"

"You have no humility, Girl." He crossed his arms, the red flush growing under his eyes. Vegeta coughed, "What's your name?"

"Why does that matter? You'll only keep calling me _Girl._" She took the towel and started drying herself off, grateful that no one else was in this room. "But if you must know, I'm Bulma Briefs. Pleasure to meet you."

She didn't offer him her hand, not like he would have taken it anyway. "So I was right, that stupid word was your name."

"It's not a stupid name! My mother just likes puns..." She tossed the capsule again, giggling as Vegeta vanished away, surprised. "Relax, Vegeta. It's called a capsule. It's for storage." She picked up a new outfit, this one a pair of pants and casual shirt. Bulma was tired of the looks she received from the warriors she passed. This more conservative outfit might not draw as much attention. "My father invented them."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, "I suppose that's slightly impressive. Not quite as impressive as being the king of the greatest warrior race in the galaxy, but I expected less from you."

"Hmm..." Bulma smiled as Vegeta turned around, letting her change. "That almost sounded like a compliment."

He grunted in response.

Bulma continued, "I'm actually sort of an heir too, you know. One day I'll be in charge of Capsule Corporation, only one of the most important companies on Earth."

"Earth?" Vegeta half turned at the word, but then immediately looked away, seeing that she still wasn't fully dressed. "Is that the barbaric place where you're from?"

"It's not barbaric!" Bulma finished putting her shirt over her head and encapsulated the rest of her clothes. "But, yes." She touched Vegeta hopefully on the shoulder, causing the Saiyan Prince to turn. She retrained her laugh at his still blushed features. "Will you help me get home?"

"Help me kill Frieza." He retreated from the room, glancing over his shoulder when she didn't follow. "Girl! Come with me! You still have to explain why you had the scent of a Saiyan on you."

_Crap. Should I tell him about Goku?_

Bulma gulped and followed Vegeta back into his quarters. She sat back down on the pile of Vegeta's clothes she had made for her bed, surprised that he hadn't yelled at her yet to clean it up.

She felt slightly relieved whem Vegeta didn't immediately start questioning her about Goku. Though the question he did ask still left her hesitating. "So how did you get here?"

"Oh! Ummm..."

She couldn't say dragon balls. Because, most likely, he didn't know what the dragon balls were, and explaining something like 'magical objects that can grant you any wish you desire' did not only sound silly, but it could also be potentially dangerous. Sure, Vegeta wasn't hurting her now, but she still didn't trust him. "Like I said...my father's a genius."

Vegeta took off his boots and lined them up carefully in his closet, "Does not answer the question."

"I'm pretty smart too...he sent me out on an experimental mission to test one of our new Capsule spacecrafts."

His dark eyes glanced back to her after a while, "And..."

"And...I...um...got intercepted."

"Hmph." His gloves were next, then his armor. Vegeta then sat on his bed, seeming to forget about the question. _That was a close one, Bulma Briefs. Just be glad Saiyans are so incredibly gullib..._

The rush of hot air made her squeak. Vegeta's pointed noise practically touched hers, their proximity making Bulma incredibly uneasy. The Saiyan smirked, "Why don't I believe you?"

Her voice cracked as she spoke, "...Because I'm a horrible liar

His smirk only increased, and the prince stepped back, cooling the air around her immediately. "You're lucky that I don't really care why you're here." He was so paranoid, Bulma wondered if that wasn't a lie in itself, but she let Vegeta continue, "You're too horrible a liar to ever pull something conniving on _me_. I just hope you perform better in front of Zarbon."

"What time is it, Vegeta? Shouldn't I talk to Zarbon soon?"

Vegeta thought about that for a moment, and then hit a button on his scouter. Bulma flinched, expecting her sabotage to take effect, but nothing happened. "It's 10:45, girl. You can tell me about the Saiyan later. And I expect the truth." Vegeta took the device off of his head and sat back down on his bed. "Zarbon's quarters are on the next floor up, room number 4. The number should be written in a familiar writing to you."

"Oh, good." She stood up to leave, but Vegeta's hand on her arm stopped her. "Vegeta, what are you...?"

He dragged her over to his desk, where he got out the black first aid kit. Swiftly, he started wrapping her upper right arm thickly with gauge. Bulma fidgeted at his warm touch. His hands were calloused and rough, so unfamiliar with sensitive contact. "No one will touch you."

"Thanks," she whispered softly.

Vegeta didn't answer. He opened the door and let Bulma loose.

* * *

A/N: I'M GOING TO BE LATE MEETING MY FRIENDS NOW BECAUSE I'M UPDATING. Oh well. so worth it.

I hope this one was a decent length! Thanks guys for reading! I'd love to hear from all of you :)


	6. Seeing in the Dark

A/N:

Three things and then I'll stop talking!

First: Hundreds of thanks to all of the people who read this story. I'll reiterate this to death...this is my first ever DBZ chapter length story, and it truly means a lot to me that people like it. I love writing fanfiction, but it's scary venturing into a different fandom than what you're used to. But all of you guys are just so nice and kind :D Special thanks to my reviewers, who provide me with excellent motivation and feedback (_Writer-Person, Alex274, romanticizer101, Princess Kedeta, Tenaciousmew, svabutterfly, Cara2012, omgOver9000, _and_ ZapZapYotsuba_)!

I hope you guys don't mind that I don't really PM back...I want to try to answer some of the questions here, just in case other silent readers have some similar questions! But if for some reason

Which brings me to #2: Maybe you guys wonder at why Bulma may smell like Goku. I actually do think they spent a fair amount of time together for Bulma to..um contract? his smell. I re-watched about 2 or 3 episodes leading up to Pilaf encasing them in like...a glass cooker. And I think it's a fair assumption that Goku doesn't shower too often as a child and that Vegeta's heightened sense of smell can detect it on her. (I imagine Goku to be a rather smelly little boy). But if that doesn't work for you guys, just consider it a plot device :P

#3 Everyone seems to be worried about Bulma and Zarbon...but maybe she's the wrong one to be worried about...

Disclaimer: Don't know how I could possibly own something made before I was born, but you never know. I don't own DB/DBZ/DBGT. Just this AU plot and annoying A/N's

* * *

She had two options now. One was that she ditch this whole perfect boyfriend plan and find some sort of way back to Earth. But that would probably be difficult. Sure, she was a genius, but she had never learned how to fly a spaceship, only capsule cars and planes. _Well maybe it's not too different. _ But then there was the problem of trying to find a spaceship. _Spaceship on a space station...shouldn't be that hard._

Bulma could, however, find Zarbon and convince him to keep her away from Vegeta. She could be with her perfect guy and away from the arrogant prince. And as much as her heart skipped at that option, her stupid conscience actually felt _guilty_. Sure he was mean and slightly psychopathic, but he didn't need her to betray him. She kind of had the impression he had experienced enough of that in his life.

_Leaving wouldn't be betrayal though, would it?_

She wandered down the halls of the insanely large space station, following signs labeled 'space pod release'. Sure, she didn't have coordinates or any idea where she was, but she was Bulma Briefs! If anyone could figure out a way back to Earth, she most certainly...

"Why Miss Bulma, I'm certainly the lucky one today."

Bulma immediately turned around, failing to suppress her flush. _There goes option one. _But Zarbon's good looks completely quelled her disappointment. "Lord Zarbon! I...I was looking for you!'

The alien's smile immediately grew, "Were you, Miss Bulma? I'm actually on my way to contact Lord Frieza, but if I can..."

"That's actually what I wanted to talk to you about!" What was she doing? She was supposed to be flirting with Zarbon! Not following that stupid prince's orders!

But Zarbon didn't seem fazed in the least, "It's natural that you're curious about the most powerful being in the universe. I assume the monkey hasn't told you anything about him?"

"No, he hasn't."

"A pity. Frieza loves having Vegeta around as his trophy, but the little prince refuses to acknowledge his proper master."

Bulma frowned at that. "No one should be treated like a slave."

Zarbon laughed and pushed a strand of Bulma's hair behind her ear. The action gave her chills. "Funny response from someone who is one." Zarbon looked her over once again and crossed his arms, "I think Frieza would enjoy you, Miss Bulma. Perhaps tomorrow I can give you more insight to him, if you can escape the monkey."

She didn't like where this was going. Bulma turned her head to the ground, "That would be perfect." She would have to get out of here tonight.

And with that Zarbon bowed and turned, letting his white cape fall behind him as he walked.

When he was out of sight, Bulma continued down the hallway. Frieza's men barely paid her too much notice. She snuffed at the lusty looks in their eyes and then smiled when their attentions strayed to her arm. Vegeta had basically publicly declared her as his property in the dining hall, and the bandage on her arm was simply a reminder not to mess with the Saiyan. _He's smarter than he looks._

Bulma managed to follow the signs to a large arched door at the end of the hallway. Two soldiers stood on the sides of the door, wearing the same pointed armor as everyone else she had seen. "Slaves don't have clearance to the space pods! Move away!"

_You're all a bunch of slaves! _But Bulma held up her hands as the other soldier held up his own, summoning a blue light similar to Goku's Kamehameha wave. "Okay, okay! I'm leaving!"

Maybe she had to plan this a little better. _This is gonna take a while..._

* * *

Two weeks had passed with the pathetic Earth girl, and she barely had any new information to offer him.

Apparently, the blue-skinned freak found Bulma _amusing_, and the girl herself said that she enjoyed the presence of someone completely more civil and respectful than the Saiyan Prince. _What does she know? She's just a silly Earth female._

His dark eyes glanced at her on the other side of the room. As much as it pained him to say, this past week had been very...distracting. He wasn't used to having someone with him. Nappa could barely be considered company, and even if Vegeta did count the older Saiyan, the prince still hadn't been around anyone his own age for an extended period of time.

He found himself stuck in his room more, arguing and arguing with her about things so completely pointless he'd later be furious with himself for ever wasting the time. He trained much less, too focused on making sure the stupid girl and Zarbon didn't go past the boundary of acquaintances.

Though he couldn't imagine why he bothered.

She would rattle on and on about worthless things, like how her hair was becoming too long or how she'll have to get all new clothes when she goes back to Earth. It fazed him a little, her confidence of going back. Vegeta wasn't sure that he planned to help her at all. It would take him all of three seconds to go find out the coordinates for the planet, but he hadn't done it. And he was also doubtful that she could hold up her end of the bargain.

"What kind of evil alien overlord has pink and purple as his favorite colors?" Bulma sniffed and brushed her hair with a brush she kept in one of her capsules. "Maybe you can go attack him in a pink shirt, Vegeta!"

The prince grunted, annoyed, "Like I would ever wear such a color. But that's no surprise considering he surrounds himself with that obese pink lard."

"You mean, Dodoria?" Bulma quirked an eyebrow, "Zar-Zar mentioned him. He's apparently picking Frieza up from some random planet and bringing him here in two days."

Vegeta almost fell to the ground. "_What_?"

She blinked her eyes, confused. Vegeta watched the blue irises in complete frustration. _Stupid girl! _ "Sorry, Vegeta...Zar-Zar said that it was a surprise and that I shouldn't..."

"Who the fuck cares what _Zar-Zar_ says!" Vegeta grabbed his scouter and immediately went towards the door. "I'll be sparring, Girl."

He practically fumed down the hallway. The girl had no concept of how dangerous Frieza was! Vegeta had heard her beloved _Zar-Zar_ in the hallway, talking about his new pet to show Lord Frieza. _Hell if I let that tyrant ever touch..._

Vegeta shuttered.

Nappa hadn't exaggerated about Saiyan adolescent development. Though he refused to _ever_ listen to the oaf when he had mentioned 'the talk', Vegeta did express minor interest in his own growth.

Saiyans grew in enormous leaps. Vegeta had always been a short child, but, being a Saiyan, he maintained the body of a ten year old, even at 15. It wasn't for another year that his body started changing. He grew ten inches in two months, and although he was still entirely too lean, he was now at a more appropriate adult height.

It was apparently the same with hormones. Nappa had said that one day, the flood gates would open, igniting a multitude of different sensations. But he also said that it would really only be a problem when purging other worlds. When he was little, he had thought Nappa's different interest in females was weird, almost disgusting. He would only keep them around for a couple of hours, and only on assignments, rattling on and on that extended contact would lead to unwanted possessiveness. Vegeta used to scoff at the notion, thinking the older Saiyan was just a weakling.

But now? He wasn't so sure.

It didn't seem fair that he would have to deal with a female all of the time during this stage of his life. ...Not that he would have enjoyed spending time with her at any other point in his existence either! And though it was gnawing at his brain, he had sworn to himself that he wouldn't touch her, not in that way.

There was something innocent about her, but at the same time he couldn't help but notice her fire. Those trivial fights they had, though excessively annoying, proved to keep him entertained. He forgot what it was like to be alone all the time, and he didn't really want to find out any time soon by losing her to Zarbon or Frieza.

"Sparring today, Vegeta?"

He stopped in his tracks, looking at the blue-skinned alien with a whole new sense of malice. "Yes."

"Then please give me the pleasure of being the one to pummel your face into a wall." Zarbon flicked back his green braid, letting his earrings glimmer in the dull light.

Vegeta hissed. He did not understand what that girl could find even vaguely attractive about this reptile. The whole way _Zar-Zar_ presented himself made the Saiyan Prince doubt on multiple occasions if the other alien was even interested in females at all. "The pleasure will be all mine."

He would lose, for sure. There was no way that he had the strength to beat Zarbon, not when he had been neglecting his training so regularly. But by fighting his opponent more and more, he would grasp their style and tactics. And then when he was stronger, he could easily defeat him.

Zarbon followed Vegeta to one of the training arenas. This one was empty and incredibly massive. The entire area was a dome shape, colored with grey panels lining the sides, walls, and ceiling. There was one black control panel hidden behind a nearly indestructible metal alloy door. No one wanted the controls to be destroyed from a stray ki blast.

"What do you say we practice defeating an enemy in a planet without sun?"

Vegeta smirked at Zarbon's suggestion. He glanced up at the ceiling where large scratches embedded the thick metal. _That was a good session..._ "Fine."

"And no moon."

The Saiyan's smile vanished. Frieza had prevented his Saiyan monkeys from learning the Power Ball technique. Nappa had told Vegeta of other Saiyans having the ability to create artificial moons, but the dolt had failed to learn such an important skill himself.

_Useless. I will never comprehend how he was ever declared a Saiyan Elite. _

But he supposed technique wasn't really Nappa's fighting style. He was more brute force.

Vegeta tried to suppress his disappointment, "Fine."

"Though it would be amusing to defeat the monkey in his monkey state." Zarbon snickered. "But I wouldn't want to chance any bruises on this lovely face of mine. Not when I'm meeting with that girl of yours again tonight."

His breath was fuming, and he couldn't help his body from shaking with unbridled anger. The air around him pulsed blue, his ki flaring with energy. _Bastard._

Zarbon laughed again and then hit a button on his scouter, "Not too bad Vegeta. Maybe you'll actually land a punch that hurts this time." And with that, Zarbon went to the control panel, causing the room to become perfectly black.

It was obvious why Zarbon chose these conditions. His, as the Girl put it, _glistening gold_ eyes were not there solely for his _dashing good looks_. The blue-skinned creature had the uncanny ability of being able to detect heat in the dark, making killing living things at night surprisingly easy.

_I swear he must really be a lizard._

Vegeta huffed to himself. _No matter, that's what the scouter is for. _ He pressed the 'on' button and then another series of commands, ready to...

"AH!"

There was a loud crack of electricity as the device shattered into smoke and sparks, burning the sensitive skin near Vegeta's eyes. Vegeta raised his hand to touch the area, quickly taking it away as his glove felt raw skin. _STUPID GIRL. WHAT DID SHE DO!_

"Hahaha! Screaming already, Vegeta? I didn't even touch you yet!"

Vegeta turned around, panicking. He had no idea where the stupid blue monster was. His disgusting voice reverberated against the dome building, echoing back and forth and making his location impossible to pinpoint. The rush of hot air was his only clue before Zarbon elbowed him cleanly in the neck.

He gritted his teeth, stammering forward and trying not to fall. _Fuck!_

"We've gotten slow haven't we, little prince? Lord Frieza won't like that one bit." Another punch collided with his cheek, flailing him back into the metal wall. "Pathetic really. Was that your scouter that made all those pretty lights? My power level too high?"

No. That wasn't it. Vegeta's scouter had exploded before, once, when Frieza had been furious at that nim-wit third class Raditz. But it had just cracked into smoke. This explosion actually hurt him. _That girl touched my..._

Another rush of air. Zarbon was in front of him now, for some reason Vegeta could practically sense it. He bit his lip as he felt the tight grip around his tail. "Errrggh..."

He hadn't fully completed training it yet, but the constant beatings from Zarbon did help him gain some control. At least he was not writhing in pain, not like when he first got to this Hellhole.

"I miss your old reaction, little prince! A monkey hurt by his own monkey tail!" There was a glow of light and Vegeta screamed feeling the direct ki blast, directly on the most sensitive nerve endings in his entire body. "Much better."

He was tossed to the floor, like a rag doll, left alone to writhe in his own broken body.

But Zarbon was not done yet. There was a swift quick to the stomach and then another and another. Vegeta had lost count. His mind begged for him to let go, to just let himself black out, but the Saiyan refused. He would endure this torture, just like he had endured the others before it. If he was ever going to defeat Frieza, he needed mind-numbing pain to be a well known friend.

"Too easy."

A yellow light ignited the air as Zarbon kicked Vegeta onto his back. The powerful ki blast hammered through his armor and stung his back, creating the sick smell of burning flesh in the enclosed room.

"Where's your bite, Vegeta?" Zarbon lifted him up by the neck. The Saiyan's eyes were finally adjusting to the complete darkness, but it was too late now. Even with heightened senses, Zarbon had destroyed his body too fast. He eyed Zarbon scornfully as the stronger alien continued to speak, "Perhaps the Girl is making you soft."

His eyes flared at that statement, causing Vegeta to unconsciously land his booted foot right into Zarbon's more sensitive area.

The well trained soldier actually cringed and released Vegeta onto the floor. The Saiyan Prince slowly stood, holding his bleeding arm and taking carefully measured breaths. "We're done here." His mind went back and forth, focusing and blurring as he made his way to the hallway. He probably should have gone to the rejuvenation chamber, but he had no energy left to deal with Appule. Vegeta only felt like he could stand one person at the moment.

He noticed her flinch as he opened the door. Her blue eyes quickly took in his body, his shattered exterior. Bruises were starting to form over his lightly tanned skin, splattering across his forearms and legs. His uniform was useless. The hard shell now had jagged edges from the breaks Zarbon had made, and his blue under suit was incredibly ragged.

"Vegeta!" She took a sharp intake of breath before coming over, slowly. He let her touch his cheek, unafraid to catch the bits of bleed still running down his face. "Don't flinch."

He hadn't realized he was. It was unconscious to move back at every form of contact. No one ever treated his being with care, not even in the medical ward. He was roughly handled even as a child. And now that he was a teenager, he was treated no better by anyone. Except for her.

"Sit down right now. What happened to you?"

Vegeta refused to sit, "I don't obey your orders."

"Oh yeah?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "Are you going to try and fight me off? It looks like you can barely stand."

"I can...stand." He muttered as he felt his knee caps give in. But he straightened himself out. Vegeta would not be reduced to falling onto his knees. "I would not be in this state if you hadn't meddled with my scouter!" His voice had less venom in it than he intended. Damn he must be really weak.

"What do you mean?" She frowned seeing the burn on his face."...Oh..."

"What the Hell did you do, Girl! I was blind out there! How dare you even touch..."His voice gave way as he finally began to fall. There was no more energy left in his legs, his body so occupied with trying to quell the surging rushes of pain. Bulma ran up to him, guiding her arms under his, but the action was useless. Vegeta was too heavy, and soon she was flat on her back, the Saiyan Prince on top of her.

She tried to nudge him up, "Vegeta...you're too heavy. Can you try to stand?"

He had over exerted his voice already, but he dimly nodded. Vegeta paused before moving, looking down to see Bulma's strange blue eyes focused on him, so worried. Her blue hair fell around her head. It sprawled across the floor in slight curls, and Vegeta couldn't help but think of how much he enjoyed this view.

"Hmph." He needed to stop those incessant thoughts! Bulma's blue eyes flickered to his, and he quickly rolled off, disgusted with himself.

Bulma shook her head before sitting up, "I know you won't want your floor to be all bloody and messy!" She grabbed his hands and dragged him towards her, surprising Vegeta with this slight display of strength. "I am putting you on your bed, mister!"

"I am not a mister..."

"_Prince._" She grunted, "And here I was happy, thinking you couldn't talk anymore." Bulma dragged his body over to the bed, placing him on the edge of the rather high, single mattress.

Vegeta fell backwards and let his head hit the back of the metal wall. His mind was still spinning, flashes of red and blue swirling around. "What are you doing?" He cringed as he felt her hands on his armor, loosening the connections that held the two sides together.

"I'm assuming you don't want this on you when you go to sleep."

"I am not going..."

"You are." Bulma tossed the armor on the floor and began stripping off the top of Vegeta's blue spandex. He felt her hands trace his upper torso, sliding against his burning, bruised muscles and resting calmly on his chest. Her flushed face glanced back up, "You...you are wearing something under this, right Vegeta?"

He nodded his head absently, closing his eyes, afraid that she might be able to read him. Her touch was so gentle on his skin. The girl's fingers were so delicate, soft and _nice_. Vegeta focused on his breathing and her touches, for once liking the feel of another's hands on his skin. "I'm sorry."

He half opened one of his eyes, not appreciating her talking to him. "About what, Girl?"

"Your scouter. I was curious about it and..."

"Don't take me for a fool. I thought you were a supposed genius. You did something to it on purpose." He closed his eyes again, the guilty look on her face seeming incredibly unattractive. Vegeta grabbed her wrist suddenly, causing her to breathe harshly. "I would think less of you, Girl, if you had not made any sort of attempt to escape."

She hesitated again but then tore her hand away, "Calm down, Vegeta." Bulma slid the spandex around his tail, causing the Saiyan to shiver. "No one's running away."

The Saiyan prince watched her throw his sweaty under suit to the ground, disgracefully on the floor and not in the hamper like the prince desired. But he didn't say anything, too distracted. Bulma quickly went to the drawer and took his black first aid kit. She set it down to Vegeta's left and eyed it, almost scientifically.

"Zarbon always says that you guys play too rough." She didn't seem to notice Vegeta externally cringe. "You guys get restless when Frieza hasn't assigned you on a mission to do...whatever it is you guys do. It's hard getting information out of that guy."

He watched her dab disinfectant on his cuts, "So you keep saying..."

"I'm just glad _someone_ on this ship isn't just some violent, muscle head. Did you know Zarbon really likes art? He said he might..."

"SHUT UP!" Vegeta tossed the first aid kit on the floor. Bandages and gauze and creams scattered everywhere, but nothing appeared to be broken.

Bulma looked at him in fury. "What is your problem, Vegeta? I'm trying to help you!"

"I will not have you talk about the one who put me in this state so casually!" He spat, the malice seething from his lips.

Her bright eyes widened, "...Zarbon did this?"

"Yes." He looked satisfied seeing her unflinching fondness of that stupid monster waver. "I was blind because of _you_ and then your mate had to go pummel the shit out of me."

"He is _not_ my mate, Vegeta." She gathered all the stuff from the floor and dropped it carelessly on the bed. "And I'm sorry, okay?"

"No you aren't."

"How can you..."

Vegeta huffed, "Why should you be sorry? I could easily send you back to your pathetic planet and yet I keep you here for my own selfish resolve. Why would you be sorry for trying to escape? Don't be so weak. Admit that..."

He stopped talking as the slap glided across his already bruised face. "You're such an asshole! Here I am, just trying to be nice to you, and you just insist on bringing up stuff to piss me off! Obviously I'm useless. I haven't found anything about how to kill Frieza, which, let's face it, Zarbon probably wouldn't know anyway. He's way too concerned on things that are 'pretty' to be meddling in how to kill someone. And try as I might, there's no way i can find my own way home. And I'm not a Saiyan, and you don't think I'm pretty enough to _satisfy_ you, so why don't you just send me home? Or kill me. Whatever. It's better than being stuck another two weeks with you!"

Vegeta clenched his fists weakly, still too tired to actually move and stunned that he was weak enough for her to actually land a hit on him. She moved back, seeing his ki flare a little, but then stepped up, grabbing the disinfectant and standing next to him again. Vegeta narrowed his eyes suspiciously.

"Sorry." She pushed harder into his skin, obviously still furious.

"Stop apologizing." He looked at her with a new fondness. "I don't need you to pretend that you like me. I'm tired of people acting fake only to stab me in the back. And besides, the fire suits you."

Bulma glanced up at him, her touch softer once again. Those blue eyes of hers were becoming more and more alluring. It boggled his mind. "The fire?"

"If you did not remember who you were or had such disgusting coloring, I might be under the impression that you are a Saiyan. I am told Saiyan women were fighters in their words as much as they were in battle."

The girl let her hand rest on his chest. She seemed a little shocked for some reason, "You were told?"

"Yes, I don't really remember the female counterpart of my race. Nappa has given me some insight however."

She pressed on his chest harder. Why did her eyes seem so teary all of the sudden? "Not even your mother?"

"She would be considered a female Saiyan, yes?"

"Right..." Bulma removed her hand and started bandaging the injuries, turning Vegeta around and placing extra cream and gauze on the large ki wound on his back. "That's horrible, Vegeta."

He shrugged, "The wound should heal in a couple of..."

"No...that you didn't know your mother." Bulma traced the outer surface of the wound, almost relaxing the Saiyan's muscles. Her hands strayed to his tail, where she clearly noticed the burnt bits of fur. "...I don't know how I would have..."

"I will not be pitied like some crippled animal, Girl. Are you almost finished?" He cursed himself for hoping she would say no.

But Bulma nodded her head and stepped away. "Lie down now." She smiled when he didn't argue, and her fingers pressed the controls to the lights behind him. This time he wasn't afraid of the dark.

* * *

A/N:

Longest one yet! Hope I didn't make you wait to long. Reviews would be the hot fudge to my sundae :D (sorry, I'm currently insatiably hungry...) But I hope you liked it more than anything else!


	7. You Turn into What?

A/N:

HOLY SMOKES 21 REVIEWS. Needless to say, I'm beyond happy right now. Superduper thanks to everyone who reads this story (whether you like it or not) and ahh! all of you reviewers are completely awesome. like unbelievable. I looked at my story stats page and was just like WHOA. Thanks! (_romanticizer101, Binkybaby, Someone, Cara2012, pink-strawberries, Princess Kedeta, Person who loves this _(haha), _omgOver9000, Miss Tis, ZapZapYotsuba, Black Diamond07, Tenaciousmew, menga88, Writer-Person, Sandwich-chan, tess4aria, Meagain_ (no riots please!), _The Azu Soul Lilly, helloechoes, Kreion, _and _artificial masquerade_).

I actually tried answering questions through PM's...so if you have a question but it wasn't answered sufficiently, leave me a review or PM and I'll get back to you straight away! I had something else to say but I forgot...huh. whoops.

Also, s_vabutterfly_ has actually translated this story into Spanish (for anyone who may find reading in Espanol a little easier). It's called _Mi Deseo_, and I encourage reading it if you speak Spanish or want to practice (if you're like me and have taken the language for like...10 years and then stopped when you hit college). And of course, I encourage reading the original one...though I don't know why :P

This was meant to be a short A/N but me and rambling...

Disclaimer: Nope. Not mine. Then I'd be using my millions of dollars to produce my weird AU ideas into non-canon movies. Oh well.

* * *

He was out cold. She must have dropped the first aid kit like...three times as she tried to put everything back in Vegeta's strangely neurotic order. But the Saiyan didn't flinch, and although she was certain now that he had been awake when she messed with his scouter, there was something almost peaceful about the Saiyan Prince this time.

Funny how she always caught herself watching him when he slept. If she didn't know any better, she might have thought she was developing a really weird case of Stockholm syndrome. But that was ridiculous. Her feelings for Vegeta only strayed from unadulterated hatred to pity.

Vegeta would have hated to know that she pitied him. But how was she supposed to feel? The boy never even knew his mother! And here he was on this space station, trapped with the people who work for the man that probably killed her. "I'd want to murder Frieza too," she half grumbled to herself as she finally set up her bed for the night. The Saiyan suddenly seemed a lot less crazy.

She woke up harshly in the dark, hearing soft murmurs and the rustling of sheets. Bulma immediately sat up to look at Vegeta. Sweat crowned his forehead, glistening as the light receded from the doorway. _Nightmares again?_

Bulma hovered over him. She had always had a scientific mind, when she wasn't distracted by cute boys or the temptations of adventure, and she found that observing the Saiyan was quite interesting. He was like Goku in so many ways, and in others, he was the complete antithesis. While Goku was free and open, Vegeta locked his thoughts away.

_I wonder why you're here_.

It must have been hard to kidnap a prince, especially the Prince of All Saiyans. She thought Vegeta had mentioned that Nappa was his bodyguard once, but that didn't really make sense. _Why would your body guard be kidnapped with you? Why wouldn't they kill him and just take you?_

She hated hearing him scream like that. It had only started a couple days after she arrived, and she still wasn't used to it. They weren't loud at all, but the sheer hollowness of his voice made her so uneasy.

Bulma shook the thought off, retreating to the door instead. She pressed the four digit code she had watched Vegeta plug in multiple times a day, and found herself in the hallway. It was the middle of the night. No one was really out roaming the large space station corridors except for a few patrolmen. And they seemed too afraid to touch her. _Vegeta must be at least powerful compared to them._

Signs directed her to the area called 'Technological Development', and she had felt her heart immediately jump. Homesickness swam through her. She had been on her little dragon ball quest for some months now, and after adding intergalactic travel to the mix, Bulma realized she hadn't been home in a while.

But this place looked like home. She was pulled back to the Capsule Corp. compound, surrounded by test tubes and machines and weird smells. But in place of her father and Tama, there was a lone scientist with bright orange hair and yellow skin. He was a soldier too, Bulma realized, and she quickly turned to leave.

"You belong to the Saiyan Prince, right?"

She froze at the surprisingly high voice and nodded her head.

"I'm assuming he sent you here for something?"

"Yeah..." She had been so dazzled by the lab she had almost forgotten why she came. "His scouter broke in combat. He sent me here to get another one."

The scientist-soldier started rummaging in his drawers. He was about to hand Bulma a new red scouter, but refrained from giving it to her. "Huh, in the middle of the night?"

Bulma forced herself to flush, "...we just finished my normal duties."

"Oh." He passed her the scouter with no more questions, and Bulma smiled and left without another word, figuring she had embarrassed the man enough already. Her adept fingers quickly turned the machine on, applying the English setting and then hacking away. _Hopefully this makes up for what I did. _

She still didn't understand why she felt so guilty. The guy was a jerk. When not hollering about Saiyan superiority, he was either trying to make her do something or telling her how inferior she was. Yet despite all of that, Bulma still found herself smiling when she looked back out towards the prince.

His nightmare had finally passed; she hated to be around when he was whispering to himself. But the thin sheet of sweat still lined his body. "You'll freeze and get a cold." She whispered it more to herself than Vegeta. After grabbing a towel, Bulma found herself dabbing at the Saiyan's hot skin. "Stubborn prince." He flinched subconsciously at her touch. "Why won't you let anyone help you?"

Bulma dropped the now dirty towel and covered the prince up, his scratchy sheets sprawled towards the bottom of his bed from the nightmares before. Subconsciously, her fingers strayed towards his head, swerving down his cheekbones and following the contours of his face. "How alone are you?"

She had been blessed her whole life. Loving parents, good looks with an even better brain, and more money and luxuries than she knew what to do with. Eventually, all of her blessings in life drove her to boredom, but she could never imagine growing up like this.

Maybe his sour mood was only out of lonesome. A defense mechanism because if anyone needed a defense mechanism somewhere, this would surely be the place. "I won't be your slave, Vegeta." That she had decided a long time ago. "But if you let me, I'll try and be your friend."

Yup, she definitely had Stockholm syndrome.

* * *

The rough knock on the door she easily recognized to be Nappa's. Bulma rolled around on Vegeta's clothes, hesitant on getting up because Vegeta was usually the one to answer these things. But remembering that Vegeta was practically unconscious the entire night, Bulma trudged out of her makeshift bed, punched in the code, and welcomed the tall, balding Saiyan. "Mornin' Naps!"

"Girl." Nappa looked at her with disgust, probably still very confused about their dynamic.

Bulma was uncertain too. She tried to be friendly with the mindless caveman, but all he seemed to be concerned about was when they were going on another 'assignment' or when Vegeta was going to get tired of having her around and dispose of her. Bulma quickly walked in front of Vegeta's bed, standing between Nappa and the still sleeping prince. "He's not feeling well."

"He's still asleep?"

"No, I killed him." Her smirk fell seeing Nappa raise his hand for an energy blast. "Kidding! Kidding! Ha, don't we know each other well enough now that we _don't_ want to kill each other?"

His voice deadpanned, "No."

"Oh...well, anyway, Vegeta's really tired."

The taller Saiyan roughly pushed her aside, "Move, human! I need to tell him about Lord Frieza!"

_Lord Frieza?_ Bulma had really only heard Zarbon and brainless lackeys call him that. "That he's coming tomorrow? He knows."

Nappa's eyes grew, "He does? How?"

Bulma bit her lip, remembering that Vegeta didn't trust Nappa for whatever reason, and that she clearly wasn't supposed to tell him that she was spying on Zarbon for the prince. "Zarbon told him. Who do you think beat him up?"

The Saiyan grunted and stared at his prince, taking long looks at the number of bandages. "Did you do this?"

"Well I wasn't going to let him bleed all over the place."

"And he _still_ isn't awake?"

That was weird. This wasn't the first time Vegeta had come back to the room, bruised and tired. Sure, it was the _worst _time, but Vegeta still normally woke up at some god forsaken hour to train again. "...You think he's okay?" Her voice couldn't hide her slight worry.

Nappa didn't answer her question. "Is this the first time you've taken care of him?"

She felt guilty as the answer came to her, "Yes. But I didn't drug him or anything like that."

"VEGETA!" Nappa shook Vegeta's shoulders, and the prince immediately sprung up, grabbing the taller Saiyan viciously by the throat. When he was released, Nappa only laughed, "Well, at least your reflexes aren't that awful."

Vegeta rubbed his eyes and temple, confused a bit when his hand made contact with the bandage from his scouter wound. "What could you possibly want so early, Nappa?" His black eyes glanced to Bulma, "And why is the girl awake? She usually snores through this time of nig..."

"It's 10:30, Vegeta."

The panic immediately appeared on his face. "What? Girl, why didn't you wake me?"

"...I didn't know that was a part of my daily duties, your _highness_. Plus, you needed to sleep." Bulma patted him on the head, earning a grimace from the prince. "Especially since Frieza's coming soon."

"Don't remind me." Vegeta quickly got out of the bed, removing bandages and bits of gauze and placing them in the trash. His gaze then shifted to the other Saiyan, "Nappa, what do you want?"

The balding man scratched his head, "I was just wondering if you got word of another mission..."

"No, I have not yet heard of another opportunity for you to run loose. The girl destroyed my scouter."

She felt Nappa's gaze suddenly on her, making her practically squeak in fear. "...It was..."

"On purpose." Vegeta smirked, surprisingly not looking pissed off. "What's that?"

Bulma smiled as he noticed the new scouter she had placed on his desk. "Oh, just an upgraded version. I'll tell you all about it later." She was always proud with her tinkering, and her scouter improvement was not a feat to be ignored.

"I didn't realize they had upgraded scouters already." Nappa was gazing at the thing, like it was going to explode at any second.

Bulma crossed her arms in annoyance. She wasn't going to do that _again_. "They didn't."

There was silence throughout the room, lasting practically the whole walk over to the dining hall. The routine remained the same: Nappa got the food, Vegeta would eat an ungodly amount, and Bulma would nibble on the weird looking but tasty rice.

Bulma coughed, hating the prolonged silence. " So Vegeta, what are your plans for Frieza?"

"What I've been doing for years, act apathetic while he blabs on and on about how powerful he is. He'll probably send us on another assignment, Nappa."

"Great! I'm going crazy stuck here!"

Vegeta lowered his head, seeing Bulma's confused glance towards him. "So what do you guys actually do on these missions?"

"Depends." Nappa grinned, speaking before Vegeta could get a word in. "Sometimes it's just a scout mission. Assessing damage of planets before Frieza sells them."

Her eyebrows quirked at that. "Is that what Frieza does? He sells planets?"

Vegeta shot her a glare, "Seriously, Girl, what have you been doing every night?"

She sighed, exasperated. It was true. Zarbon pretty much had _nothing_ to tell her about Frieza. And it wasn't even like he didn't want to talk about his overlord. The blue skinned alien would go on and on about how _great _Frieza was and how _powerful_, but there was nothing specific. One time he had told a story about torturing a subordinate, but that was basically it. "Being your more than exceptional entertainment, my dear prince. Or shall I remind you right now?" Bulma smirked at Vegeta's blushed expression. _Ha, serves you right for almost slipping._

Vegeta coughed, "He sells planets. It's like some disgusting hobby."

"And you guys figure out how much these abandoned planets are worth?"

"Abandoned! Ha!" Nappa started laughing.

"Shut up, Nappa." He gave the older Saiyan a glare, immediately silencing him. "We are not to give this stupid girl details about what we do. It is of no importance to her."

Bulma shrugged, something else suddenly coming to mind. "Fine, whatever. Keep your secrets. I'll just get it out of you eventually..."

She only smiled when the glimmer of excitement tinged in the Saiyan Prince's eyes. "Is that some kid of threat?"

"Maybe." Bulma pushed away her bowl of the weirdly colored rice. "_Prince_ Vegeta, I think we should get started on my_.._.uh, duties if Frieza's coming tomorrow. That way you can be well rested."

His eyes narrowed suspiciously, "Fine, Girl. Nappa, you can clean up."

The other Saiyan grumbled and started gathering the trays as Vegeta and Bulma left the dining hall. Vegeta grabbed her wrist again. This was always how they walked. He would drag her along the hallway, acting totally indifferent to her while Bulma saw how he constantly glanced back whenever she slowed even the slightest. His grip no longer felt like a binding chain anymore either. It was almost _soft_, like Vegeta finally realized there were other types of contact that didn't involve roughness.

"What was the rush to get out of there, Girl?" Vegeta paused and turned around, facing her bewildered looks. "Unless you do plan on performing some duties for me?"

"Now, now, I thought I was too disgusting to ever tempt you."

Vegeta huffed and turned back around, pressing the code to his room and letting her back inside. "Even Saiyans get desperate, Girl." His baritone voice made her uncontrollably shiver. The prince just put on a devilish smile and vanished in front of her.

Bulma felt her heart pound violently. His face was so close to her, hot breath seething and black eyes seeming to burn through her entire body. Her mouth only fell open as he touched her face, his gloved fingers roughly gliding down her cheekbone.

He pressed a finger under her chin, pulling her face up slightly to his eye level. "Though I doubt I'll ever be desperate enough to go after someone as vile as you."

_Of course._

Vegeta sat on his bed, like a king on a throne. "Tell me why you wanted to leave."

"Nothing major, Vegeta. I just remembered something Zarbon told me a while ago. I wanted to ask you without Nappa around." Bulma lowered her voice, "I don't know about you but sometimes the oaf really freaks me out."

"Hmph." She noticed that Vegeta didn't disagree. His low voice just continued, "Get on with it, Girl."

Bulma sat down, thinking deeply, "He said something about whether or not I knew your _big _secret. Zarbon said it was something to do with that."

Vegeta glanced down to notice she was staring at his tail. "What about it?"

"...So...what is it?"

He looked away from her practically laughing. "You want me to just tell you what my supposed _big_ secret is simply because you asked?"

_Right...yeah...that's not going to work. _Bulma undid her hair-tie, letting her blue hair sprawl across her shoulders. She noticed the Saiyan take a side glance at her actions, making her grin. "I just thought it was about your heritage, Prince Vegeta. It could be an opportunity to tell me all about your _wonderful, powerful _race."

"Hmph." Vegeta crossed his arms, "I'll tell you. But not because you asked." _Right, right, Vegeta._ The prince continued, "But because it truly does display our superiority over your pathetic race." He let his tail unravel and whip through the air, effortlessly. "These tails enable the Saiyan race to reach its ultimate form of power."

"Oh!" Bulma suddenly remembered something Vegeta had said when they had first met, "Is that the 'myth' you were talking about? The reason why Frieza is so afraid of you?"

"...No. The Oozaru is no legend."

Bulma blinked, "Oozaru?"

"With the appropriate amount of Blutz waves, a Saiyan can transform into the mighty Oozaru."

"Blutz Waves?"

Vegeta sneered, "Must I explain everything to you, Girl? They are..."

"Waves produced by celestial light, normally the light the moon reflects from the sun. Yeah, I've heard of them before," She was about to laugh. _Is this for real? _ "You're telling me that you _transform_ in the moon light? What are you? A werewolf?"

The prince narrowed his eyes and stood up, stepping closer to her and letting his tail wrap around her lower arm. "Does that look like a wolf's tail to you?"

Her blue eyes widened, "So that's why he calls you a little monkey!"

"THERE IS NOTHING LITTLE ABOUT THIS TRANSFORMATION!" His tail loosened from her arm and immediately went back to his waist. Vegeta ran a hand across his face, exasperated. "Where have you heard of Blutz Waves, Girl?"

"Oh suddenly I'm not an idiot, am I?" Bulma put her hands on her hips. "For your information, I did a bit of research on the waves in 9th grade. We were supposed to do a project on the phases of the Earth's moon in class, but that was too boring. My father mentioned something about the waves being used as an alternative energy source. The night version of solar power. So I looked it up. Really interesting stuff."

She paused before asking, "So do you actually know what's going on when you change? Or are you really like a werewolf and go on a killing spree?"

"Elite Saiyans like myself are trained since birth to have control of their Oozaru transformations."

Bulma sighed in relief, "So no killing sprees for you...that's good."

Vegeta just smirked, looking at her evilly.

"Don't try to scare me Vegeta!" Though another thought came to her. "You won't be turning into a giant monkey anytime soon, right? As far as I know, there's really no visible moon where we are in space."

"The training facility allows a Blutz Wave simulator. Saiyans are also said to have learned a technique that enables them to create an artificial moon."

Bulma grinned, "Neat! Tell me how!"

"...I have yet to learn such an ability."

"Really?" Bulma found that hard to believe. _A Saiyan technique that the Prince doesn't know?_

Vegeta seemed to sense her question, "I was abducted by Frieza before I learned this technique. And, Nappa, the useless Saiyan he is, was not competent enough to understand its intricacies."

"Hmm...I guess it would be a little tough. You'd probably need to use that energy ball of yours and manipulate it to have reflective properties in the atmosphere. Yeah..." Bulma walked over to Vegeta's desk, taking a piece of paper despite the prince's protests. "All you would really have to do is take into account the atmospheric conditions of the planet, and, considering that you'll most likely be going to habitable planets, the variation of the strength and energy should not be too different But perhaps you'll have to use the sun as a light source, meaning you would need to take into account the launch angle and surface..."

Vegeta, for once, seemed speechless. His arms unfolded from across his chest, and his eyes seemed insanely curious. "You can tell me how to do the Power Ball technique?"

"...I can _guess_. I don't actually know how to manipulate energy like you do. But I have some ideas at how you can make it a possibility."

"You will brainstorm these possibilities."

Bulma batted her eyelashes, "Pretty please?"

"...I do not care about the outward appearance of your begging."

"Ugh! _I'm _not begging for anything! You're the one asking me for a favor."

Vegeta grunted, "I do not ask, Girl."

"Then I guess I suddenly have no idea how to create an artificial moon." She smiled, seeing Vegeta's frustration. "Sorry to cut this short, but I think it's time for me to pay dear old Zarbon a nice visit."

The Saiyan suddenly turned around. He seemed incredibly and suddenly disinterested in her. "Fine girl. Remember..."

"I know, I know. You tell me every time." She let loose a big grin. "...don't let the 'blue grotesque lizard touch me or I'll be blasted back to Earth'." Bulma dared to ruffle the Saiyan's black hair, earning her a growl from the prince. "I think you're a teeny bit jealous."

"Pft, don't touch me!" He practically spat. "You'll make me vomit."

"Hehe, so jealous. Bye! Don't wait up!"

* * *

A/N:

It's cool posting this when you're at a totally different part of the story. But anyway, I hope you liked it! And I'll continue to write what I'm thinking is going to be a monster of a story...


	8. Preparing for Frieza

A/N:

This one's a little shorter than the others, but if I added the next part it would take longer to revise so I'm opting for faster update over story length. Hope you don't mind!

I'm getting a little redundant but THANKS SO MUCH TO EVERYONE WHO READS THIS. I love you. Winning my undying love is actually pretty easy, isn't it? Special thanks (again) to the wonderful people who take the time and consideration to review this story. I was pretty sure that this story _might_ reach 85 reviews total, and now? I'm not so sure what the limit is...you guys rock. (_Black Diamond07, Alex274, omgOver9000, Cara2012, ZapZapYotsuba, MeAgain _(ha thanks for no rioting :D), _Person who loves this, Tenaciousmew, Miss Tis, secretsmile0, The Azu Soul Lilly, Lady Evelyn, KeyKnows, Loving this, EsEMe, artificialmasquerade, _and _KashiMeshi_). Especially all those people who like...habitually review? Thanks so much, (though new reviews are awesome too...I NEED TO STOP RAMBLING).

Disclaimer: Yeah, I totally got the rights to DB/DBZ/DBGT in the past 2 days. And I'm also totally making a crap load of money off of this. And if all those previous things were actually true, I'd be robably be a tiny bit happier right now :D

* * *

Zarbon was getting boring. It was nice, for a while, to hear how gorgeous, and perfect, and smart she was. But after about the 500th time, the compliments were falling on deaf ears. It was nothing like talking to Vegeta who, when not being an utter asshole, was actually pretty fun to talk to. She knew that he probably wasn't the nicest person...or even close to being a good person. But she just couldn't let one fact get by.

No matter how mean, nasty, or arrogant that prince was, he didn't touch her, not in _that_ way. Sure, she probably lost count on all the empty threats on her life, but when it actually came down to it, Vegeta was keeping her alive here.

"Miss Bulma?"

She blinked away from her thoughts of a certain prince and gave Zarbon a smile, "I'm sorry, what did you say?"

"I was just asking if you happened to know what Vegeta did to get his hair to stay so perfectly in order all of the time," Zarbon asked curiously. "Even in a fight his hair is always in place."

"Oh." Bulma stared at her hands in boredom. "Nothing. I asked him once why he would ever want such a crazy haircut, and he said that was the hair he was born with. Apparently Saiyan hair doesn't change shape ever. Well, unless you cut it."

"What a shame...that knowledge would have been useful for me." The blue alien fingered his own green braid.

_What a freak. _ _The Eternal Dragon expects me to marry a guy that cares more about his appearance than I do?_ _Well...maybe he'll be fun to shop with?_ Though that thought didn't really alleviate the grimace on her face.

Zarbon's gold eyes flickered, "Is there something wrong?"

"What? Oh...no, I guess I'm just nervous about Frieza coming tomorrow."

"Do not worry, Miss Bulma." His chilled hands ran across her cheekbone, down to her bangs, sweeping them past behind her ear. "He will love you as much as I do."

She couldn't help but smile at that. So what if Zarbon was a little vain? It clearly showed. He was gorgeous and completely infatuated with her. _Then why am I thinking about that stupid Saiyan?_

"I will arrange something tomorrow so that you can meet him. I have already told him much about you. He's curious to see what female keeps his Saiyan monkey so interested."

Her mouth moved before her thoughts, "Can Vegeta come?"

"Hmm, I suppose so. If you're worried about him getting mad."

Bulma didn't answer that. She turned away instead, extremely uncomfortable with Zarbon's close proximity to her body. His room was so much different than Vegeta's. Different fabrics hung everywhere with jewels and dangling gems littered throughout. He had told her once that he greatly admired everything beautiful, and the giant circular mirror was clear evidence of that.

Everything about his room was more warm, more inviting, except, Bulma realized, Zarbon himself.

He smiled beside her, cupping her cheek in his hand. She wanted to slide away, but refrained. "I can dispose of him, Miss Bulma."

_WHAT?_ "...That won't be necessary."

"Do not worry about the Saiyan. He's no more than a twig to snap. Though Lord Frieza may not be too pleased with that decision..."

Bulma rolled her eyes in fake frustration, "Is there nothing that stops that guy? He seems almost unbeatable to me."

"You ask that question a lot, Miss Bulma." Zarbon smiled suspiciously.

"I...I'm just curious! I come from a family of scientists. It's only natural for me to have questions, especially over something someone claims to be invincible."

Zarbon's tone suddenly became defensive. "Lord Frieza _is_ invincible! If he wishes death on anyone, they will be dead in a matter of seconds. The only way you would manage to escape would be to escape death itself."

Bulma snickered, "Like immortality?" She stopped her giggling seeing Zarbon's extremely serious look.

"Perhaps." Zarbon flipped back his braid, "I tire of these conversations, Miss Bulma. Won't you tell me more about that lovely human invention called makeup? How can it increase one's outer appearance so effortlessly?"

She retained her outburst of giggles and stood up, "Actually, I think I should be getting back. Don't want to look too tired for Frieza!"

"As you wish." Zarbon stood up and unlocked the door for Bulma, touching her shoulder before she left. "Remember though, the Saiyan is no threat to me. You could be mine in a moment if you wish it."

Her thoughts were running. Vegeta wasn't a nice person. He bribed her, berated her, and threatened her countless times. Zarbon was supposed to be her one true love, her perfect boyfriend. But she wouldn't...she couldn't wish for Vegeta's death ever. "...Goodbye, Zarbon."

"Farewell, Miss Bulma."

* * *

"Shower. Now."

He couldn't bear to have that stench in his room...especially when it intermingled with her own, delicious smell. _Delicious? What the fuck am I thinking?_

Vegeta handed her a towel from his closet and pointed to the connecting bathroom. His black eyes were gazing at her face. _Something's off. She looks even more scared than usual. _"What's the matter, Girl?"

"...Nothing."

Her weak voice betrayed her. Vegeta huffed and grabbed the towel out of her hand. "Stay and tell me what's wrong."

She grunted in response, "Since when do you care Vegeta?"

"Since you started hiding things from me. I will not be in the dark any more, Girl. Is Frieza coming earlier than expected?"

Bulma shook her head no and reached for the towel, but the Saiyan Prince held it away. He continued his interrogation, "Then what's your problem?"

"I don't know." It sounded truthful enough, but there was obviously something wrong with her. He was happy that she continued to speak on without further persuasion, "He just said how that if I wanted...he would..."

"He would what?" He held back the bitterness in his voice. She seemed even more sensitive tonight for some reason.

"He would kill you for me...if I wanted."

Vegeta didn't know what to make of that. His inner instincts told him to be immediately on guard. If Zarbon attacked him meaning death, he would have to put all his energy and more so in staying alive. _If only I knew that damn Power Ball technique! Then I wouldn't have to worry about that fool..._

But his mind thought of something else, something truly confusing. "You didn't accept his offer."

The idiot shook her head.

"Why not?"

"...Vegeta?" Bulma went closer to him, reaching out her hands, but he instinctively stepped back.

He lowered his voice in response to her approach, "I don't understand you. You had an opportunity to get rid of me forever, and you said _no_?"

"...I said no."

"Why, Girl?" He furrowed his eyebrows in confusion, almost anger. "I have shown you no courtesy."

"Lie, you've protected me...in your weird way. I know that you're keeping me alive, Vegeta. Sure, you're an asshole that has his own goals in mind, but what do I expect? You've been trapped in this place for your entire life. Why would you offer me freedom if you had a chance to also achieve yours as well?"

Vegeta turned around, arms crossed. He didn't want to look at her, her blue eyes glaring at him with such alluring energy. This girl frustrated him to no end, and yet, she was right. He was keeping her alive. He could be rid of her, find out Frieza's weakness on his own or simply keep training until he was finally stronger than the bastard. But instead he decided to keep her here, safe. Keep her here with _him_. "You're a fool."

"And you're a stubborn brat." She touched his shoulder. "Give me the towel. I know this smell bothers you."

Vegeta regretted turning around, her closeness hitting him like a ki blast to the face. She was trying to be serious; it was almost laughable. Her young, beautiful face held such light, such joy, something he was so unaccustomed to. How he would give for the chance to just grab her...

But the thing was, he had every chance to just grab her. Nothing could possibly stand in his way except for the girl's weak defensive shrills and hits. He took a step closer to her, but then immediately paused. He didn't want her. Not like that. "Go." He threw the towel at her and turned back around.

He listened as the girl walked into his connecting bathroom and put the shower on. Bulma liked hot showers. It drove him crazy, the constant flow of steam hovering in his room, how patchy and red her skin looked after she came out.

But it was not as annoying as her singing. It was probably just soft humming to her, but his Saiyan hearing could hear every syllable clearly. And her voice was atrocious enough for him to wish himself deaf on many occasions.

The water stopped running, and soon a rush of hot air flooded the room, making the Saiyan remove his gloves in the heat. He hated when she left the shower. Her scent was everywhere, fresh and airborne. It made his skin crawl. Vegeta took one glance in her direction and felt a sudden warmness deep in his chest.

She wasn't wearing anything but the now seemingly small towel. It wasn't like her clothes covered her much anyway; she wasn't the type to be humble with her body. But it was fully clicking in the Saiyan's head at how nice her body actually was.

His experience with women was reduced to the victims he slaughtered. Needless to say, he had never seen someone in this light before. Water dripped down her hair, sliding across her collar bones or down her thin, but still toned legs. He felt the rush of heat lower in his body, and he bit his tongue in a sad attempt to suppress his flush.

"I forgot my capsule." Bulma walked forward, brushing her arm against his and sending that rush of heat even lower. "Vegeta?" She turned quickly as he walked forward, grabbing his pair of boxer briefs, and headed into the bathroom. The girl pounded on the door behind him, "Hey! What's the big idea! I'm not finished!"

He ignored her babbling and set the water temperature to ice cold.

She was rummaging through her clothes again. The pile of fabric seemed to grow bigger and bigger with each burst of a capsule.

"Girl, are clothes the only thing you possess?" Of course he knew she had more. But agreeing with her wouldn't spark a fight.

"No!" She took another capsule out of the small, silver metal container. This one held a backpack and several bottles of pretty old water bottles. "Like you're one to talk, Vegeta. All you have is armor and spandex."

He tapped the device over his eye. "And scouter."

"Yes, which you never thanked me for, by the way."

"Hmph."

Bulma smiled, "You're welcome."

_Insolent girl._ But his smirk wouldn't leave his face. "What did you do to it?" It surprised him to hear his voice not sound slightly suspicious.

"Upgraded it." Her prideful smile soon faded. Bulma rummaged through her bag, a little more furiously. "Where is it?"

Vegeta was sitting in his closet, looking at the armor he had from ten years earlier. _The Seal of Vegeta-Sei. _ How he wished he had a suit of armor with that on it his size. He would kill for any mark that could remind Frieza that he was a _prince_ not a fucking pet. "What are you yelling about, Girl?"

"My radar! Where is it? Ugh! This is the wrong bag!" She encapsulated her bag and then went back to the metal case. "WHERE IS IT?"

"STOP YELLING!" Vegeta shouted over her. "One day I'll be deaf from your insufferable voice!"

"Good! Then I could make fun of you all I want without hearing you're stupid comebacks! Ugh!" She flopped on the ground, the night shirt she was wearing riding up to her knees. "I can't believe I lost it!"

"Lost _what_?"

"My..." her voice suddenly trailed off. "My scouter. It tracks...things."

Vegeta huffed, "Why would you need a scouter, Girl?"

"To see if a jerk like you is coming, of course." The mess on his floor was suddenly gone, leaving only one single dress. "Changing. Turn around!"

He begrudgingly obeyed, fighting with all his determination to not turn around. Vegeta had seen her in nothing but her underwear before, and that thought made it just the more tempting to turn around again. _Focus._

"Okay! Done!" She fumbled to put her hair up in a ponytail, and then looked over to Vegeta, walking over softly. "Hey, relax."

He had barely noticed how tense his shoulders were. One touch with her hands and his muscles relaxed, but he couldn't remove the scowl on his face. _Frieza_. He hated that bastard. He wanted him dead, more than dead. He wanted him burning in the deepest pits of Hell. "Touch me again..."

"And I'm dead. Blah, blah, Vegeta." She walked in front of him, obeying his wishes of not being touched. "Let's just calm down and meet the guy, okay?"

"Where did Zarbon arrange this little get together?"

"Some conference room. #74."

Vegeta nodded, pushing his thoughts of anger and revenge away. There would be a time for all that, but that time wasn't now. Any sign of rebellion now would mean losing Frieza's favor, which meant losing the alien's protection. And with Zarbon and Dodoria's penchant of beating him bloody, he wouldn't survive in this space station for more than a day. "Let's go."

* * *

A/N:

DUN DUN DUNNN. .../obnoxiousness

I'll get to revising the next part. Thanks guys for reading :D


	9. Cat and Mouse

A/N:

Yay! Over 100 reviews? Thanks guys! I just moved in to fabulous college today (or university for people who aren't from the good ol' states). Which means my life is going to get 10000X busier. Ugh. But I have a solid cushion of chapters left! I'll probably be spreading them out more, but in honor of hitting over 100 reviews, I decided to post the next part tonight

Thanks to everyone who reads! And my wonderful reviewers: _Princess Kedeta, Anna, MeAgain, Person who loves this (_3 reviews for one part? Triple thanks), _menga88, bluexrasberryx _(Eep, sorry. this one's short too. but the next one! promise!)_, Alex274, omgOver9000, KashiMeshi, Miss Tis, Cara2012, Tenaciosmew, ZapZapYotsuba, _and _IMABANANA_ (hopefully you'll see this when you get to Ch. 9...)

I'm not happy with this chapter at all. What a way to introduce a story.

Disclaimer: Nope.

* * *

The air around her was freezing. Bulma shifted closer to Vegeta, feeding off his warmth in the insanely cold room. _They call him Frieza for a reason, don't they?_

She hadn't figured out what was so intimidating about the monster. Sure, he was creepy to look at, but so were half of the aliens on this ship. He was tiny, shorter than Vegeta she thought. She really couldn't tell since he was sitting in this hovering little capsule.

But she definitely noticed why pink and purple seemed to be his favorite colors. His arms were a weird fleshy pink, and his armor, a plum color. And the more she focused on his face, the more that chilling sensation seemed to climb up her spine. His face was a blotchy, pasty white with blood, chapped red lips. His eyes seemed practically snake like, concentrating completely on the Saiyan next to her.

Vegeta tensed, and then, to her surprise, bowed. "Sire, it is nice to see you again."

"Ah, Vegeta."

His voice.

Bulma wanted to cringe. His voice was terrifying. Biting, icy, chilling. Her ears wanted to burn from such a voice.

The monster continued, small beady red eyes focused on the Saiyan Prince, "How is my favorite monkey?"

"Adequate, sire. Training as you assigned."

Frieza nodded. His tiny vessel hovered forward, away from Dodoria and Zarbon who flanked his sides. "Good to hear. I believe I have finally found an assignment worthy of your presence, my prince."

Vegeta nodded rather stoically, "Nappa will be glad to hear of it."

The monster cackled, and Bulma outwardly flinched. His whole aura, she realized as he came closer, read evil. If she thought Vegeta was bad, this alien made him seem like a sniveling puppy. His long white finger touched her gently on the cheek, making her immediately want to puke.

"And why, Vegeta, do you have this creature with you? Zarbon mentioned you have found something to occupy your time with. I didn't expect her to be so weak."

"Sire!" It was not surprising to Bulma to hear Zarbon be the one to rebut this, "Though her power level is puny, she is actually a very _interesting _creature, my lord. I find her to be most entertaining."

"Now, now," Frieza held a twisted grin. "Don't you get around, little one? Impressive. Entertaining both Zarbon and Vegeta? How intriguing. When will you dispose of her I wonder?"

Vegeta grabbed her by the wrist suddenly, roughly tugging her closer to his body. She didn't mind one bit. "The Saiyan adolescent stage, Lord Frieza, is an entirely unique process for me. The girl has helped me deal with some of the _harder_ times. I find her to be quite a relief."

"So I expect her to be gone once you're finished with your development, Vegeta?"

"Yes, sire." He didn't even hesitate.

Bulma tried to calm herself down, but it was hard when she was normally so outspoken. Plus the fact that everyone seemed to be calling her a whore made her pretty upset. She tried repeating and repeating to herself that what Vegeta was doing was just one big act, but he was an incredibly good liar.

"Fine. Will you be taking her with you on assignment?" Frieza wouldn't let up.

Vegeta actually thought about this one. But one glance in Bulma's direction had him shake his head.

"Hm, well I guess you can always find some pretty young thing over there. I'll set up your launch for tomorrow. 11 months in sleep."

"Yes, sire."

"And you girl..." She jumped, seeing the overlord direct his conversation to her again. "What is your name?"

She had to swallow before talking, "...Bulma, Lord Frieza."

"Well, Bulma." His malicious grin was plastered again on his face, beady eyes glancing over her. "I hope you get along well without your monkey. I would love to see you again sometime." With that, Frieza turned his hover machine around, "Dismissed."

* * *

"Come on!" Vegeta gruffly whispered, dragging her, once again, back into the hall.

She was too freaked to talk. Her whole body was chilled to the bone, like she had just seen a ghost. _He's worse than a ghost._ Bulma found herself looking at the Saiyan Prince again. "How did you ever manage to do that?"

"What?"

"Act like you like him?"

"A lot of practice." Vegeta brought her to the dining hall after calling Nappa from his scouter.

She shivered and sat down at their usual table. Bulma had noticed a lot less soldiers were looking at her now, maybe finally getting used to the idea of seeing a girl in the space station. "I don't like him at all."

Vegeta smirked, "Bet I hate him more."

"Probably, but still. He seems so _evil_."

"He does not _seem_ evil, Girl. He is. He has murdered more people than you will ever meet. More than the population of your puny planet 100,000 times over."

She focused her gaze downwards, "Including your family."

"Yes." Vegeta was looking at her closely. "Stop pitying me, girl."

"I'm not!"

"You are."

Bulma sighed, "Well it's hard not to. Instead of growing up with a father and mother and cat and dinosaurs like I did, you grew up with _that._" She glanced behind Vegeta's shoulder, looking for Nappa. _He really has no one, does he? _Bulma bit her lip before speaking. "I think I know who the Saiyan is."

This immediately caught Vegeta's attention. "You had told me, Girl, that you had no idea, that because of your father's supposed large company, that you had to meet with hundreds of people a day, and that any one of them could have been this Saiyan."

"...Well, I lied."

She couldn't believe she was saying this. Was she really going to sell out Goku? _Do it. Maybe if he knows there's another Saiyan out there, he'll have more motivation to take me to Earth._ Bulma hesitated in her own thoughts. _Wait, do I want him to come back with me to Earth?_

Bulma backpedaled, "Well...at least I think I know..."

"You know, Girl. Tell me his name."

_Crap._ Vegeta was using his serious voice. Bulma recognized it all too well. "...his name is..."

"Shh." He glanced over her shoulder. "Nappa's coming. I will not share any of this with him."

"Why? Isn't he the closest thing you have to a friend?" She wanted to hit herself. Wasn't she just trying to avoid answering this question?

"If we want to think of my closest friend in this Hellhole, I would have to say you." He grimaced at her smile, "Which truly tells you how much of a Hellhole this place is. Betrayal is something I could never forgive."

Bulma couldn't help her shocked expression. "What did Nappa do to betr..."

"Sir, I'm assuming the meeting with Frieza went well?"

Her voice immediately halted as the tall Saiyan approached. Though, luckily, he seemed to have not noticed her talking, too consumed with wondering what Frieza had to say to his prince.

Vegeta nodded, "Yes. Nappa, I'm starving. Get me and the girl food immediately."

"Yes, Vegeta."

Nappa walked off towards the buffet style line, leaving Bulma to ask, "Is that why you treat him so badly?"

"Hmph." Vegeta crossed his arms, placing his boots on the seat next to her, across from himself. "No one deserves to be treated any other way."

_Right. My mistake. _

Nappa had apparently heard about the mission already. Vegeta and Nappa were being sent to some planet, really, really far away to do some 'work'. The Saiyan Prince refused to give her any further detail, but Bulma wasn't stupid.

Frieza was trying to run an empire. He got and sold planets for money, offering them to people already under his influence or turning them into some fancy, gigantic strip mall. No doubt that Nappa and Vegeta, highly trained soldiers, were being sent to this planet to at least intimidate someone important. As far as Bulma knew, they might have had to _assassinate_ someone.

_Better I stay here._

But she was becoming less and less convinced of that. Besides Zarbon, Vegeta had been her only company these past couple of weeks, and she felt an unnerving pit in her stomach of being here without him. "Do I have to stay here?"

Bulma had given Vegeta one of her capsules, and the prince was now putting all of his wanted clothes in a pile. "Yes."

"But do you think that's a good idea?" Bulma watched him fold every suit perfectly flat. No wrinkles or excess folds...if that were even possible with spandex. "I mean, you are leaving me all alone with Zarbon."

"Girl." Vegeta encapsulated his items and turned to her. "Zarbon could have easily taken you by now if he wanted. I cannot find any reason to be concerned. I don't understand you."

"Huh?"

"Why do you want to come?"

There was more curiosity than anger in his voice. It made her wonder... "I don't want to be alone."

Vegeta's eyes became dark as he placed the capsule on the table. "You won't prefer to be with me. Get going. See Zarbon. Tell me anything else possible that he knows about Frieza."

"But...Vegeta..." She didn't know what she wanted to stay, but she didn't want him gone when she woke up in the morning.

"WHAT?"

Her voice immediately lowered at his yell, "...When are you leaving?"

"Early."

He was so blunt, so uncaring. "Okay...well, I'll see you tonight then."

Vegeta waved her off, "I'll be training all night."

"Then never mind..." Bulma walked back into the hallway. "Jerk. He wants to abandon me for 11 months?" She shook her head, "And that's only one way!"

She refused to stay on this stupid ship for 20 something months, waiting for Vegeta to return. _That's it, Bulma. Find out Frieza's weakness...heck, make something up! That way Vegeta can send you home tonight. _The thought had come across her mind before, but she knew she was an awful liar, especially around Vegeta. _But it's worth a shot if it means being stuck here for 2 years otherwise! Plus he seemed to believe that lie you made about the not knowing Goku thing...at least for a little while._

So that was it. She would try to at least make Zarbon tell her something relatively applicable to killing Frieza, and if he didn't, she would make something up. _Fire sounds slightly believable...I mean, the monster is as cold as ice._

"Ah, Miss Bulma, back again I see?" Zarbon moved to the side, letting Bulma enter.

She sat down on one of the blue skinned aliens many cushions and waited for him to sit across from her. "Hi, Zarbon." Bulma couldn't help but ask, "Happy now that Lord Frieza is here?"

"Yes! Just as impressive as I said, isn't he?"

Determined to go home tonight no matter what, Bulma didn't bother censoring herself. "Actually, I was expecting him to look a little different."

"Oh really?" Zarbon raised an eyebrow, "Well perhaps you have heard of his other forms."

_Other forms?_ "Yeah...remind me of those again?"

Zarbon yawned. "Lord Frieza has 4 different forms in total. The one you saw him in today was his lowest energy form. They say that his natural form is actually his last one, the fourth and final form. But Lord Frieza refuses to enter such a state. It'd be much too terrifying."

"That's...generous of him." _I wonder if Vegeta ever knew that._

"He seemed to like you, Miss Bulma."

She had doubted that. "What makes you say that?"

"He's allowing you to live."

_Oh._

She recoiled back, feeling Zarbon's touch suddenly on her cheek and then straying down to her neck. Bulma craned herself back and coughed, trying to change the mood. "Vegeta mentioned once about Frieza...disliking a Saiyan myth."

Zarbon scoffed, "Who knows what stories monkeys tell."

_Unhelpful._

"Though I do remember a rebellion once. This third class had the audacity to challenge Frieza directly."

Bulma was surprised at that. "What happened to him?"

"Blew up with his planet." Zarbon stroked another piece of her hair. "You have beautiful eyes."

"Thanks..." she moved back at his touch. _Eternal Dragon...is this really him?_ She knew what she originally thought. She liked him from the beginning. He was the first person she met, and immediately, she wanted him as her boyfriend. But now? All she felt was...

"Just one kiss, Miss Bulma..." Zarbon leaned in closer, icy air entrenching around her. "One kiss before..."

All air inside her froze as his lips made contact with hers. First kiss. Bulma would have never expected it to be like this. She was on a space station, for one, kissing an alien she barely knew. No embrace. No passion. Her eyes weren't even closed, the last word on Zarbon's breath bothering her.

She broke it only seconds after it began. "Before what?"

He smiled, "Why, before I give you to Lord Frieza, of course."

"...What?" Her face paled, stomach tumbling in pure upheaval. _Is he being serious?_ "Why?" Her voice was panicked. "Why would you do that!"

"Miss Bulma," His hands went through her hair, but she immediately pulled away, repulsed. "I told you he found you interesting. And now that Vegeta is leaving, you need another man to please."

Her hand flew across his face before she could think. There were no consequences, just his disgusting words in her head. "I can't believe you!"

His golden eyes pierced her, "What are you doing!"

She stood up and took a step back, still furious. "How can the dragon balls do this? You're not perfect! You're vile! How could I let you kiss me! How could I have been so..."

The hand around her neck cut off her voice and oxygen. She glanced at Zarbon, tears running from her eyes as she felt his hand bruise her skin. "Impertinent, girl! How dare you talk to your superiors this way! Maybe Vegeta can stand it, but I should crush you." His voice was pure venom.

Blackness was drifting over her eyes as she tried to cough, tried anything to shake the alien's grip from her neck. But it was futile. She was no way powerful enough to break loose. All her options were running out. No girlish charms could sway him. There was no Goku to come to her rescue. She was dead.

Her head crashing on the plush cushion was the last thing she saw before the wall exploded and everything else went black.

* * *

A/N:

Little bit of a cliffhanger! Next part will be longer, promise! Thanks for reading guys, and remember to drop a review!


	10. Karbos

A/N:

oh my. me + college= not a lot of time. But I plan on writing a lot tonight! But I'm thinking of resorting to weekly updates if you guys don't mind too much. With martial arts eating my soul and school, I just...well...I'll try my best!

And you guys keep shattering the review record! Thanks so much :D I'd express my never-ending gratitude further, but I'm sure you guys just want to read the story... But thanks anyway to:

_Alex274, secretsmile0, artificialmasquerade, menga88, Miss Tis, tess4aria, Strava, Princess Kedeta, Lady Evelynn, OMG_ (all your questions will be answered eventually!), _shiroshiroxxx, ZapZapYotsuba, romanticer101, gue 22 (_multiple reviews :D thanks!)_, The Azu Soul Lilly, Rubine, Cara2012, jade, MeAgain, Faith, Gini Justice, omgOver9000_, _Saiyan Queen _(multiple reviews from you too! Thanks :D), _Many Voices In My Head (_I'm honored!)_, Tenaciousmew_, _IMABANANA_, and _Person who loves this_ ! THANKS GUYS!

why do I always forget what I want to say? Oh well.

Disclaimer: I don't have time to get sued so please don't.

* * *

It was tight...wherever she was. And that place was most likely heaven considering the last situation she was in.

Tight and dark.

Not really what she was expecting at all. She always thought heaven would be a little more...open. And white. Lots of white. But all she saw was darkness.

_Try opening your eyes, genius._

Bulma did and immediately jumped.

There was the sky; it was night. She was resting on some soft, though lumpy bed. The stars gleamed as they rushed passed...rather quickly. "Huh?" Bulma turned her head and jumped again. She wasn't on some comfortable, though uneven, bed like she originally thought. "Vegeta?"

The Saiyan Prince was underneath her, sitting upright with his eyes closed. Bulma was on his lap, her head cramped on the right side of the tiny space pod. She poked him in the shoulder, too eager and curious to let him sleep. "Vegeta?"

"Annoying as ever, Girl." He popped one eye open, "Perhaps I should have left you with Zarbon."

She smiled, that answering one of the main questions in her mind. "You did come."

"Stop looking at me like that!" Vegeta shuffled, causing Bulma to fall off of him a little.

But Bulma moved back, holding him around the neck and burying her head into his shoulder, letting the light tears fall. "You saved me! How did you know? How did you know what he was doing? Thank you Vegeta! Thank you!"

"Get off of me!" But his push on her was rather light. "I told you, Girl. I was training. On my break, I went passed Zarbon's room to see if you were finished. My scouter detected that your power level rose to an 8, which for you may as well be a Super Saiyan, and then suddenly declined."

Bulma wiped her wet eyes and looked back at him, "A Super Saiyan?"

"Forget it. The large fluctuation in your power level warned me something was off."

She rubbed her temple, trying to remember. "I...saw a wall explode."

"It was the door. And it didn't explode. I just forced it open."

Her grip was around him once more, tears falling harder. "How did I...how did I get here?"

"I brought you with me." He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "They did not authorize Nappa and I three pods. I was unfortunate enough to be stuck with you. And Girl! Stop it! You're getting my uniform soaked!"

"Sorry...sorry..." But she still cried, gripping Vegeta so tightly, while the Saiyan just sat there.

"You're an awful liar." He placed his hand on her back, lightly. Bulma half laughed at his effort, and stopped crying, resting her head on the prince's shoulder instead. Her heart felt heavy when he didn't ask her to move. He just continued talking. "Besides, I couldn't have you dead."

Her smile or the prince's proximity made her incredibly warm, "And why's that?"

"You still need to tell me about the Saiyan."

"Oh." Her voice fell. _Stupid, stubborn Saiyan. Saves my life...making me almost think that possibly he could have been the one the dragon balls meant. _Bulma looked back at his stoic face. _I'm the one who's stupid._

"Well?"

Bulma moved back from him a little. "You want me to tell you now?"

"We're going to be on this thing for 11 months. I don't see why not."

_11 months like this? _Though she didn't particularly mind sitting on the Saiyan now, she was sure she would not feel the same 11 minutes, let alone 11 months from now. "Fine. But only if you tell me why you hate Nappa so much."

Vegeta's glare burned on her skin, "I don't hate Nappa..."

"And you call me a liar!"

"If you expect me to give you information, Girl, don't interrupt!" Vegeta shifted again and directed his gaze to the circular window in front of them. "I don't trust Nappa. Frieza took me from my home when I was a little boy."

Bulma could feel his larger intake of breath, but she didn't want to interrupt, too curious and happy that Vegeta was finally opening up.

"But he did not kidnap me as I may have led you to believe."

_What? _She kept her mouth closed.

"I was handed over to him by my father, King Vegeta. He gave me to him, traded me to that bastard like property. Nappa was responsible for seeing the plan through."

"Vegeta..." She went closer to him again. "Perhaps Nappa was just following orders."

"Orders? He swore an oath to protect me! Instead, he handed me over to the devil." The edge in his voice was something she had only heard associated with Frieza.

"Fine." Bulma turned around, laying her back on the Saiyan's chest. "We don't like him."

"Hmph."

"So now what, Vegeta? We sit here for months and months?"

"Hardly." Vegeta pointed to a button. "This is the hibernation unit that puts you into a comatose state for the designated time period. We should wake about 20 minutes before landing."

"Oh great!" Bulma moved to touch the button, but Vegeta grabbed her hand.

"Girl, the Saiyan."

_Oh...well, I guess I can trust him now. He did save my life. _"I think my friend Goku might be one."

"Goku?" Vegeta scoffed, "That is not a Saiyan name."

Bulma huffed, "Well he doesn't know he is a Saiyan! I don't think so at least. But I had been traveling with him for a while, before I um...traveled into space for my dad that is. But yeah, me, Goku, Yamcha..."

"Yamcha? Was that the disgusting other odor I smelled on your body when you first came here?"

Bulma scratched her head, "Maybe? How do you even remember what I smelled like anyway?"

He turned his head, "That's not your concern."

"Right...anyway, he has a tail like you and is really strong. He eats like a pig as well."

"Interesting." Vegeta pressed a button on his scouter, "I wonder why a Saiyan was sent to your planet and left it supposedly intact. Maybe Nappa would know."

"Intact? What do you mean?"

"Nothing that concerns you." Vegeta turned off his scouter, disregarding the idea. "My legs are losing their blood circulation already, Girl. Must you be so heavy?"

"Shut up." She leaned back on the Saiyan, trying to force more of her weight on him He groaned in response. "Hey, Vegeta?"

"What could you possibly desire more than crushing me?"

Bulma grinned, "I just thought of something...since when do you take breaks while training?"

There was a long pause before the Saiyan just leaned forward and pressed the button for the gas. "Just go to sleep."

* * *

11 months felt like 11 seconds, and the majority of those seconds were spent waiting for the hibernation unit to sink in.

It smelled sickly at first, like some chemical some scientist made in the labs back at Capsule Corp., but that thought soon vanished as her eyes closed, drifting off into the longest sleep of her life. But the darkness was fleeting, lasting an instant maybe only a breath.

She was nudged awake softly by an elbow, waking to see one frowning Saiyan Prince. "Get up, Girl. Your snoring will alert the whole planet we're here."

"Grumpy as always, Vegeta." Her eyes immediately flashed upwards at her surroundings.

This place was new. No metal, no grey. The air around her felt different, not like the openness of Earth or the heavily treated feeling inside Frieza's space station. It felt stuffy and warm, the atmosphere holding this almost sickly orange glow. Her whole body felt heavy as she tried to move out of the space pod and towards the Saiyan.

"...Why would Frieza want a planet like this?"

The grass, even the parts untouched by the two space pods, seemed black and fried. Dead trees lined the surrounding area, looking like thin sticks stuck in a dead field.

"Karbos." Vegeta crossed his arms and eyed Bulma slightly as she wobbled over, "What is your problem?"

"The gravity here..." Bulma slowly raised her arm. The action didn't hurt, but it was still a whole lot harder than what she was used to. She tried to push herself into a run, but fell flat on her butt. "Oh, but don't worry about me! Just keep walking along as if I'm not being crushed here!"

He scoffed, "You're fine. Get up and try not to be a bother. I don't want to regret my decision." Vegeta's head turned as Nappa's space pod opened, letting the large Saiyan get out and stretch his legs.

"Hey, Vegeta!"

Bulma wondered how the balding man could address him so casually. He helped sell Vegeta's childhood, but the brute just acted like they were almost buds.

"Nappa, we'll need to scout for a location to store my cargo." Vegeta gestured to Bulma with a slight movement of his head. _Jerk_. He pressed the red button on the side of his scouter. "Population of 89.7 million."

Nappa walked forward, smirking at the slight resistance in the air. "I like it here. Harsh air, dark orange sky. It's almost like Vegeta-sei."

"Hmph." With one quick motion, Vegeta gathered Bulma in his arms, "I want half of them gone by the end of the week."

She made a slight noise as Vegeta scooted her body up, over his shoulders with his arms wrapped tightly around her knees. _What is he talking about? _"I can walk on my own, you know!"

Vegeta ignored her. "I'll find us a location to camp. You find the being with the highest power level and dispose of him."

"Yes, Vegeta." Nappa pressed the button on his own scouter and grinned, "Barely a challenge. The gravity here is only a quarter of what Vegeta-sei was. These creatures are weak. We might not even have to go out at nightfall."

Vegeta's dark eyes strayed to look at the girl on his shoulder, "Perhaps." He started hovering, making Bulma grip onto the back of his armor in shock. "You have two hours to find me. Get going!"

With a quick nod of the head, Nappa was gone.

Bulma's blue eyes widened in pure shock. The balding Saiyan was gone in an instant, which really wasn't too weird because Vegeta did it all the time. But what was weird is that Nappa seemed to have _blasted_ off, almost as if he just... "ARE YOUR FEET OFF THE GROUND?"

Vegeta made a satisfied kind of huff. His hands trailed from the middle of her back down to the crook in her knees, making her body shiver...in a surprisingly good way. "Don't tell me the Saiyan you know can't even _fly_."

"...Is that what Nappa did back there? Can you fly?"

"Hmph. Of course." He pulled her body up even further over his shoulder. It was terribly uncomfortable. Vegeta's muscular but lean frame dug into her stomach.

And what was with this guy? He could shoot lasers from his hand, had ridiculous strength and speed, and could _fly_? _Can all Saiyans do this? Will Goku be this powerful if he's trained right?_ Vegeta was like an Earthly super hero.

"Where are those blasted Capsules, Girl?"

Minus the whole hero part.

She hit him futilely on the back of his armor. "Stop holding me like a sack!"

He actually obliged her request, dropping her recklessly from about a foot off the ground. Bulma plopped on her butt, the impact coming faster and harder than she would have expected due to the increased gravity. "Asshole."

"Weakling." But for some reason, Vegeta held out his white gloved hand, offering it to her. At her slight hesitation to grab it, the Saiyan grunted, "Just take it, Girl. I won't wait for you much longer."

Bulma grabbed his hand and slowly walked over to Vegeta's space pod. She was slightly distracted by the numerous controls, the foreign alien technology making her mind tick in that familiar, clinical way again. But Vegeta's imposing presence behind her made her brain focus. "You didn't grab the silver box?"

"Of course I did." Vegeta moved past her, picked up her father's invention from deep within the pod, and released the trigger, causing a brief puff of smoke to appear. The smoke dissipated, revealing Bulma's silver case full of different capsules. "I just wanted you to pick the one that has the capabilities of storing these space pods."

Bulma flashed a grin, "Well, all of them do! But these ones should be empty...my motorcycles got kind of trashed recently." _He's just lucky I managed to swipe these back from Pilaf._

"When you were traveling for your father in space?" Vegeta narrowed his eyes. "You will tell me how you eve managed to sneak into my room, Girl, so expertly. Especially when I hear you didn't know the passcode to exit."

She bit her lip at this topic. Vegeta had never really pushed her existence on Frieza's space station too much. And she was, in no way, prepared to answer that question. "I thought you didn't care about that."

"I didn't. Your presence was an opportunity for me to extort Zarbon, but seeing that plan fail incredibly due to your uselessness, I feel no reason why you shouldn't tell me."

_Crap._ Bulma steered away from the questions, encapsulating the pods instead and placing them into her metal case, which she also encapsulated. "So what do you do here exactly, Vegeta?"

He noticeably tensed at the question, "Do not change the subject."

"You're the one so focused on 'not wasting time'. Why waste time asking me questions that don't matter anymore when you could be answering questions relevant to our current situation?"

His hands were immediately around her waist again, and she was tossed over his right shoulder, like a bag of flour. "You arrived undetected, Girl." She heard Vegeta breathe out smoothly, almost hesitant to continue, "It goes to say that someone could leave the same way."

"I don't know how to escape, Vegeta. I'm sorry." It was the truth. The stillness and quiet nature of her voice convinced Vegeta of her honesty. Her hand strayed to the lower part of his back, where she rubbed the area right above his tail in tiny circles. "I disabled your tracker."

His back muscles tensed under her, "What?"

"Well...I hacked your new scouter so that you _can _disable the tracker. Normally that thing just keeps running and running, and I figured if you ever, you know."

"I don't understand you, Girl."

She was almost sure that if she could see his face, he may have been smiling. "Well, that makes two of us."

* * *

The cave they found was dismal but surprisingly very large. This planet was humid and had this eerie glow that Nappa insisted was comforting. _Glad I've never been to Vegeta-sei. Sounds awful._

He came back with blood splattered all over his uniform, which made Bulma cringe, but honestly, it wasn't the worst she had seen. Though the way Vegeta reacted would have someone think Nappa tossed a severed head at her feet.

"Idiot! What do you think you're doing walking in like that? The Girl will most likely puke."

"Please Vegeta." She took off her shoes and crashed onto the ground, the gravity making her feel a little dizzy. "I've seen you come in bloodier than that all the time. What happened to you, Naps? Fly into a cliff?"

Nappa smirked and wiped the blood from his face. It didn't really help. "Nope. Just squashed a bug."

"Oh good." The Saiyans both looked shock at her casual response. "Well since you're done killing...whoever, is it time to go back now?"

Bulma watched Vegeta's eyes narrow behind his scouter. "What did you say?"

"It's obvious what you guys are trained to do." Bulma shrugged, "Like I said, Vegeta, I'm not stupid. You two are soldiers."

"We're not simple soldiers. We're Elite Saiyan warriors."

"Same difference." She smiled, watching Vegeta put a hand on Nappa's chest, stopping the older Saiyan from approaching her. "Point is you're trained to kill. And now that you killed probably the leader of this freaky planet, we can leave, right?"

It made her a little sick to think about. There was no way she would ever condone killing anyone unless maybe for self defense. But, she justified, in some convoluted way, this _was_ for self defense. Nappa and Vegeta had to do Frieza's bidding or be killed. Though that didn't really make her any less disgusted with the idea.

Nappa's black moustache lifted slightly as he smiled fiendishly. "She's not as dumb as she looks, Vegeta."

The prince himself seemed slightly taken aback by what she said, but he only showed it for an instant. "It involves more than that, Girl."

"Like treaties and stuff?" Bulma hesitated, "...well, knowing Frieza, probably more like breaking some treaties."

"Treaties?" Nappa laughed, "Sure, Girl, we break a whole lot of _treaties_ here. I'm actually thinking about heading out to do that tonight. Scouter says it's the last night of the full moon in this place."

"Fine, whatever." Vegeta's deep voice seemed even more uncaring than normal. He sat down, opposite end of the cave from Bulma. "I'll find food."

Nappa's eyes seemed to darken at his prince's response. But he didn't say anything, knowing better. "Alright. How much should I leave for you?"

"Half gone by the end of the week." He reiterated his orders, and Nappa smiled, sitting down next to Vegeta and stretching out his muscles.

* * *

A/N:

But I think the planet name is kind of clever! don't you :P

OH! I remember now. Like a good author, I started to actually do research and watch Dragon Ball (which is considerably harder in college, but anyway). And I just wanted to mention that it actually does appear that Saiyans do have heightened smell. In one of the episodes during the 21st annual World Martial Arts Tournament, Goku comments about how he can smell Master Roshi specifically, which leads me to believe that Saiyans do have the ability to ascertain specific in case you were curious. If you want more information, you can bother me and I'll gladly try to recall which episode this occurred in and send you the link!

And I hope you guys are happy with this turn of events. A little different from what I originally intended, but it'll work out with the plot. Also I would like to point out that 11 months in space is equivalent to 11 months on Earth (just to make my life easy...if this is actually different, which I don't think it is based on Radditz and his warning about Vegeta and Nappa in the Saiyan Saga, I'd love to know!) Hmm, 11 months...

Thanks for dealing with my lengthy clarifications! And I hope you enjoyed this new chapter! Reviews would be wonderful motivation for me to write this story faster, so if you have some time to spare, let me know what you think!


	11. Shadow of a Doubt

A/N:

I'm updating in less than a week :D I actually got a lot of writing done this weekend, and since you guys are such fabulous reviewers and readers, I'm updating early! (reviews actually do pay off sometimes, huh :D)

I got an amazing amount of hits for this story, and now a total of 161 reviews. That's the most I've ever had for any of my stories! Which may not seem like much for you guys because I really only have 2 stories on this account...but trust me! IT'S AWESOME!

Thanks so much for my wonderful, exceptional, and [other positive adjective] reviewers! _(person who didn't put a name D:), Miss Tis (_let's just say Zarbon isn't too happy)_, Yaji's Girl, Cara2012, The0Blind0Writer _(you changed your name!), _artificalmasquerade, Many Voices In My Head_, _bv princess23 (_2 reviews, thanks! and i hope you're not in trouble!), _Person who loves this, manganime, The Azu Soul Lilly _(thanks again for noticing that!), _Princess Kedeta, ZapZapYotsuba, gue22, Darktouch0713, omgOver9000, KashiMeshi _(totally wish I could take you up on your offer, and thanks for the two reviews! Hopefully this update makes up for that)_, Saiyan Queen, mustasheweenieful, Tenaciousmew, Naga (_Your review was fine! and I hope it doesn't seem rushed...), _menga88, __Lauren, __svabutterfly, rusty graham  
_

And also I forgot to thank **Black Biamond07 **in my last A/N. So and enormous double thank you for this review and all of your previous ones!

I also want to thank everyone who reminded my incredibly forgetful brain about Goku sniffing out the Kame rock on Dragon Ball as a part of Master Roshi's training. If you want to watch the episode it's Dragon Ball episode 16 "Find that Stone!" or "Training-The Rock Hunt" in 日本語

You guys are wonderful! And I can't thank you all enough for all of your support and comments and questions. And if you don't mind I wanted to ask all of you whether you think this is an appropriate rating for the story. I'm really bad with determining what's exactly appropriate for whom, and although this story has a fair amount of strong language, there's nothing actually blatantly sexual about it. I'm pretty sure I knew the F-word when i was 13, but I don't want to make anyone uncomfortable. Let me know what you think!

Disclaimer: I always wondered what would happen if Akira Toriyama did write fanfiction...would he have to put a disclaimer? Well, since I'm not him, I guess I do.

* * *

"She shouldn't even be here." Nappa was still chewing on the bones of some of the meat Vegeta had killed earlier that day. Night fell quickly here, this fast turning planet making the days hollowly short.

It was always weird coming back to a planet. On the space station, there were no days or nights. Just time. An alien constructed measurement of something no longer visible. There was no sun, and to his annoyance, no moon. _That girl said she might know how to accomplish the Power Ball technique. _His dark eyes glanced back to her figure, curled up in a corner of the cave. The nights on Karbos were brutally cold, so Vegeta kept the ki induced fire burning near Bulma's sleeping figure. "Are you questioning my decisions again, Nappa?"

"She's extra baggage, Vegeta." Nappa crossed his arms and walked over to Bulma, "Not half bad looking, but still extra weight. The females on this rock are pretty decent as well. You should just trade her in." His hand softly strayed against Bulma's cheek, making the girl flinch in her sleep. "Get a newer model."

"Shut up, Nappa."

"You need to listen to me Vegeta. This attachment is dangerous."

"Nappa." He wouldn't let his voice go above a raised whisper, but it still retained his wanted malice. "Just because you have the emotional capacity of a worm does not mean..."

"How did she even get to Frieza?"

"She was a prisoner. I told you that already." But he noticed the uneasiness hover in Nappa's eyes. He had similar doubts. The Girl was an atrocious liar; he could see right through her thin excuse of traveling for her father. But in some way, it did make sense. Her father was the head of a technology organization, but the prince doubted he would send his only daughter on a mission into space and then fail to communicate with her. _She most likely took a space ship and ran off before she fully knew how to use it_. Vegeta smirked. That wouldn't have been completely unlike her.

And what was Nappa trying to imply exactly? Vegeta's body became rigid, tense with frustration at his old body guard. And to his deeper annoyance, the oaf just kept _talking_.

"How much have you trained since she arrived, Vegeta?"

The prince crossed his arms, "That is none of your concern."

"You're sleeping late. You're power level is remaining stagnant after it usually increases by at least 10 a week. You're unfocused. All because of that pathetic bitc-"

Vegeta gritted back his teeth. His hand immediately rose, igniting a bright blue light aimed directly towards Nappa's head. He watched Nappa tense back into the wall, eyes wide with fear.

"You need to learn when to be quiet." Vegeta walked closer, causing the older Saiyan to backpedal even more. The ki blast in the prince's hand increased and painted the whole cavern blue. "And how to respect me, Nappa."

"Ve-Vegeta..."

The Saiyan prince let the blue glow radiate against his face. His blood thirsty smirk faded when he looked back on to the ground to the sleeping girl. "You're not worth waking her up."

Nappa sighed in relief as the ki blast dissipated. But he immediately shrunk back against the wall as the young Saiyan vanished inches away from his face, "Do not get me wrong, Nappa." Vegeta let his tongue slide, splattering saliva against Nappa's armor. "I will kill you one day. But not for this and not now."

"Hmph." The older Saiyan surprisingly smirked, "You don't want her to know you're a murderer, do you?" He half laughed when Vegeta didn't answer, "Too bad, Vegeta, That's who you are. That's what's in your blood. You're a Saiyan."

Nappa stood by the cave's entrance. "Stop playing house and wake the fuck up." The Saiyan then walked out, most likely looking for the moonlight.

He didn't bother to respond or follow. It wasn't worth his time or energy. The giant idiot didn't know anything. Bulma meant nothing to him, not in the mating sense. She was the first possibility he had seen in over ten years of a way out of Frieza's clutches. _That_ was the only thing he cared about, but Nappa wouldn't understand.

Vegeta wanted a way out. He enjoyed the challenges Frieza presented him with initially, when he thought it was for his Saiyan honor. Destroying Saibamen and even conquering planets was somewhat amusing for a time, but he was supposed to be a prince, damn it! He was supposed to bow to no one, free to go anywhere or do whatever the fuck he wanted. But instead he was groveling on his knees for some disgusting, psychotic tyrant.

He let his body collapse to the ground, more furious than tired. _Bastard. Fucking bastard._

Nappa had no right to make those accusations. He just didn't understand what Vegeta was planning. He _wouldn't._ He was beginning to like the work too much. Killing and killing because it was someone's orders. _I'm the one supposed to be giving them, not Frieza._

He was robbed of his birthright by his own father. Robbed of his thrown, his race, his childhood. He lost everything but his pride, and by even surmising that he had formed an _attachment_ with Bulma was threatening to steal that as well. Saiyan princes did not mate with weakling Earth females. Hell, Saiyan princes would not even mate with most Saiyan females. His father called the process of selecting a mate a _sensitive_ one, a word Vegeta had only heard the Saiyan king use for that occasion. But all of that was pointless now. There were no Saiyan females left.

It was natural to have sexual activities with such a pathetic creature out of desperation, but to actually mate? That was laughable and downright deprecating.

Vegeta shifted his body deeper in the cave, away from the moonlight spilling into the room. The ground shook from footsteps walking far away, and he knew that Nappa had transformed. Bulma shook from her position on the ground, and Vegeta snapped back seeing her eyelids flutter.

"Vegeta...?" She rubbed her eyes as she sat up, her blue hair falling along with her body.

_She's so weak, still not used to the gravity._ He didn't know what this feeling was. Did he want to help her? Vegeta scoffed and turned around, the moon acting as an appropriate borderline.

The ground quaked again, and the girl squeaked. "What was that?" Her head looked around the cave, "Where's Nappa?"

"You just answered your own question." He crossed his arms and let his legs spread out straight in front of him, closing his eyes even though he felt the girl staring at him.

"Nappa's making those noises?" Her eyes widened as she put the thoughts together. "...He's that thing now, isn't it?"

"An Oozaru yes."

"Why aren't you?"

"Because I'm too busy babysitting you." Vegeta tried not to rethink Nappa's remark. Nothing, especially not some Earth girl, would make _him_ weak.

She bit her lip as the ground kept moving. "Can...can you sit with me?"

He immediately scoffed, his current thoughts intensifying his reaction, "Absolutely not. Why are you sniveling like that?" It was annoying. It was the same sound she made sometimes when he came home beaten or when she went on and on about her 'lost friends'. It wasn't like a wail or a cry exactly, more like a whimper.

"Please?" Bulma shook with the ground, blatant fear in her eyes.

"No." Vegeta's voice was flat. Though he hated to see the girl in this pathetic state, the creeping moonlight made him stay put. And if Nappa came back to see him coddling the girl like a child, he would never hear the end of it.

Bulma pouted, "You're such a jerk sometimes!"

He half laughed. "Sometimes?"

"Look, it's a little scary being on some foreign planet with a giant ape just walking around. Mind trying to be a little more sensitive?"

Sensitive. There was that word again. Vegeta's dark eyes unconsciously strayed to the line of moonlight, separating him from Bulma. He didn't say a word and just closed his eyes, happy that the infuriating whimpering had finally ceased.

"Oh I get it."

She sounded truly confident. _What is that girl talking abou-_

The warm contact on his left shoulder immediately made him jump. His eyes flashed open and immediately glanced down to his side where Bulma was laying her head, both of her arms wrapped around his left one. "Girl..."

"You don't want to scare me too, do you?"

He found it horribly disturbing that his mind wanted to agree. Vegeta didn't want to scare her. For a person who once thrived off of his power of intimidation, he realized that Nappa, the ignorant bastard that he was, might have been right about one thing. He didn't want Bulma to see him kill. He didn't want her to be afraid of him.

"That's okay." She yawned and closed her eyes, her warmth consuming him. _What the fuck is wrong with me? _ "I'll just stay by you."

He opened his mouth to object, but immediately became distracted with her breathing and the growing sensation deep inside the pit of his stomach. It was tingling through him, like his ki was burning out of his skin. _How can she breathe so easily?_ Nappa's footsteps were now mere murmurs in the distance, and Bulma responded immediately with sleep. Vegeta clenched his jaw shut. _Damn it. _ He was growing more and more uncomfortable with each passing second. Bulma's head slid past his shoulder, relaxing lightly on the lower part of his abdomen. It was then he noticed how much longer and delicate her hair felt across his body, the passing months adding to its length. Her head vibrated as she snored, and the Saiyan couldn't help but squirm. "Fuck."

He needed her off of him, that weird sensation swarming through his body now. But at the same time, he didn't want to move. His head went back to rest on the rock and Vegeta suddenly had the urge to slam his head through. That bizarre feeling was growing. His head was becoming unbearably warm and dizzy. "Get off of me!"

Vegeta had only lightly pushed her, but the action was still enough to send her body rolling about a foot away. Bulma suddenly sat up, frightened, "And what was that about?"

"I'm not your bed, Girl. Go sleep in the corner."

"But..."

"The difference of your proximity to me over there and on my chest is barely significant with my speed. And your fear is entirely unwarranted. Nappa is completely self aware in his Oozaru state."

She rubbed her head, dusting off some of the dirt she had collected from her slight roll. "Why did he even transform? Intimidation tactic?"

"If Nappa wants to run around as an Oozaru, I will not stop him. Girl, just go to sleep."

Her face blanched. "He...he could be killing someone."

_Someone? _ She had absolutely no idea. Nappa was probably destroying an entire city as they spoke, but she was worried about _someone_? This girl was so sheltered. "It's not worth thinking about."

"But..." Her blue eyes took a single glance at the annoyed Saiyan and then shut. "I should just sleep now, shouldn't I?"

"Yes. I'm starting to get a headache."

Nappa's armor wasn't even broken the next morning. There were a few scratches on his shoulders, but no blood, no wounds. He didn't go out at night again, that he saved for Vegeta. They took turns 'babysitting' her, Nappa gone in the day and Vegeta apparently leaving when she went back to sleep.

This went on for three days or so. The days were blurring together in exceedingly boring repetition. It took her about an hour to convince Vegeta to let her take out one of the space pods. _This will at least keep me amused for a little while_.

But it actually entertained her for a couple of days. The technology was impressive, unlike anything she had ever seen. The pod itself had no visible propulsion device yet she knew how fast it traveled, so effortlessly, seeming to produce no waste despite its incredible speed and stability. _I got to get this knowledge back to Capsule Corp. We could revolutionize technology all over again. _

Of course neither Saiyan was too fond of her taking apart the pod, so she had to make do with just examining the outer mechanics. The alloy of the outer shell seemed to be unlike any other Earth material, much to her despair. _This will be hard to reconstruct from scratch. Maybe he should come to Earth with me. _

Though the possibility of returning to Earth was decreasing steadily. She didn't like to think about it too much, the reality of it would surely freak her out. And she couldn't afford to freak out on some weird, alien planet where everything was this hazy orange color and with a Saiyan Prince who was getting more and more unstable after each passing day.

Vegeta initially only stayed up for two hours at a time, napping and then waking up to bring her food or to complain about her appearance and now unkempt hair. But recently his sleeping had become more comatose, the exhaustion of going out each night catching up with him. And when he was awake, there were no more complaints or even a nod towards her direction. He seemed too preoccupied programming something on his scouter.

She only caught him talking once, a day when he came back with a slight gash on his cheek. He mentioned something about 'unexpected technology for such scum' and then quickly silenced himself, engrossing his attention entirely on his little tracking device.

The next day came and Bulma was slowly losing her patience. The space pod computer was in an entirely different language, and Vegeta refused to translate for her or allow her to hack it in case of a mishap. But she was going to get bored, especially now with the silent prince. Not to mention she was really starting to...

"Vegeta, I'm going to go out." She stood up and sighed, not surprised to see him materialize in front of her.

"What are you doing? I strictly commanded you to _not _leave camp."

"Yeah, well my hygiene won't take it anymore. I don't know how you can possibly smell so good." She bit her lip as soon as she said it, the last words incredibly unintentional. But if she was being honest with herself, he did smell _incredible_. Not like perfume or flowers or fruit or anything slightly effeminate. It was more like some foreign spice intermingling with a unique scent that she thought only Vegeta could posses.

She was glad though that the compliment went over his head. "Fine, Girl." He moved away from her and headed towards the exit. "Follow me, but make sure to bring your capsule this time."

Bulma flushed immediately, almost forgetting that time she just walked out in noting but a towel. _Better than when he caught me in my underwear..._Her face reddened even more.

Vegeta didn't bother flying her there; the walk was only about 3 minutes or so. There in the deep earth was a tiny pool of startlingly blue water. The surface was so still and calm, rippling incredibly as she gently placed one tiny toe on the surface. "It's safe?"

"The minerals in this planet's water supply are actually supposed to be of medicinal use." Vegeta kicked the ground a tad aggressively. "Frieza wants it as some sort of spa."

"Murdering a leader and terrorizing a whole world for a spa...wouldn't expect anything less." _Sick bastard. _Her blue eyes glanced towards Vegeta, and the Saiyan immediately turned around and sat cross legged, giving her the privacy of stripping down to her skin.

The water was surprisingly warm, almost like a hot spring. She dipped her head in immediately, relishing in how clean she finally felt. She had just about finished washing off in only ten minutes, but Bulma wasn't quite ready to come out. Her body started swimming around the small lake sending tiny waves lapping on the crusty shore.

After another five minutes, the Saiyan Prince finally had enough. "Girl, are you finished yet? I have things to plan, and I can't do it sitting out here, waiting for you. "

_Why not?_ But she didn't question it out loud. Vegeta was grumpy enough as it was. "Fine, fine. Hold your horses!"

"My what?"

"...never mind." The normally warm air of the planet felt shockingly cold when Bulma emerged from the pool. She shivered slightly and took out an outfit quickly from her capsule. "Vegeta, where's my towel?"

"What?"

"My towel...you know that white fluffy thing I always stole from you when I took a shower?"

She saw the Saiyan fidget, back still turned. "I don't bring such trivial things with me on assignments."

"What? Then how do you get dry?"

"Hmph," was the only response he offered.

Bulma sighed, "Well I can't get dressed wet. That would ruin my clothes."

"I thought you were going to buy new clothes when you got back to your disgusting planet anyway."

She couldn't help the thought from slipping, "If I go back at all."

Bulma gasped as the Saiyan was suddenly next to her, eyes still locked shut. He raised his right hand up and hovered it right over Bulma's skin, sending a wave of warmth tingling through her. Vegeta maneuvered his hand across almost every inch of her body, gliding his palm over her now freshly cleaned skin. Bulma flushed realizing he was purposely avoiding her more delicate areas, but she couldn't help but feel incredibly grateful. The heat on her chilled skin felt so incredible that she unintentionally leaned back as Vegeta hovered over her lower back.

"Er...don't move."

She held in the giggle, seeing his face twisted in frustration, his eyes plastered shut. _Ha, so much for thinking I'm ugly._

But it ended sooner than she would have liked. Vegeta was returned to sitting on the ground, back facing her.

"Thanks." She put on her clothes and then patted Vegeta roughly on the shoulder. "That was almost nice of you."

He jumped up at her touch and walked forward, maintaining their distance. "It was for my benefit more than yours. The last thing I need at the moment is to hear you complain."

"Mhm. Of course." Her inward smile escaped to her face as she watched the Saiyan gruffly walk back to the cave.

Now that Bulma knew there was practically a hot tub a few feet away from her shabby living quarters, she took full advantage of it the following day. Vegeta insisted on coming with her again, not that she was complaining. She felt safer with him around, despite his grumpiness, and it would be a lie to say she didn't look forward to his drying technique.

It was later this time, the one moon in the sky gone, leaving the night perfectly dark except for some scattered stars. Bulma intentionally brushed up against the Saiyan's warming hands when he dried her off, enjoying his squirming body.

"Will you stop moving, Girl! I don't want you complaining about how I burned you."

She laughed, the energy in his hands nowhere near the temperature it would take to burn even her skin. But she stopped moving, as hard as it was, knowing that it was really starting to piss him off for whatever reason.

"Let's go back now, Vegeta, Naps is probably waiting."

Vegeta scowled, "I don't know why you choose to bastardize a noble Saiyan name."

"If you're jealous, I can give you a nickname too, 'Geta."

He stopped walking and turned around, "Call me that again and you will no longer have the capacity to speak, Girl"

"Fine, fine. You're the only one allowed to use indiscriminate and slightly derogatory nicknames. Gotcha." She groaned and kept following the Saiyan, but stopped dead when she saw Nappa ripping something off of his back.

The taller Saiyan muttered to himself, "Sticky bastards," before tossing what looked like a small body to the ground.

Bulma's eyes immediately grew into large circles, pupils small in shock. She raised one shaky finger up towards Nappa before muttering, "Wha-what was that?"

Nappa sent a bright ki blast through the body, scorching it into ash. "It's nothing...now."

"Don't concern yourself with things you won't understand." Vegeta eyed her closely. Her body inadvertently calmed under his cold look. He was judging her reaction, trying to see whether she was going to flip out and yell or remain silent.

She wanted to scream. That...that had been a body, something alive and breathing, and Nappa had just turned it into dust without a second glance. But the Saiyan Prince's look was threatening to crack if she even began to whimper.

"Go to bed." Vegeta appeared next to her, grazing his nose across her cheek before resting his mouth right above her ear. "I would not upset Nappa right now with any questions, Girl. Just go to sleep and keep your mouth shut for once."

She didn't listen, "Where are you going?"

Vegeta's hot breath hit her full force. "You don't want to know."

* * *

A/N:

Believe it or not, I practically finished writing this whole thing while watching _Black Swan_ the other day. (like you guys care about my movie choices) ... Anyway, it still needs A LOT of tweaking and editing and probably more descriptive stuff thrown in there, but I'm super excited to actual finish and post it. There's probably still around 5 or 6 more chapters left (I haven't counted).

But thanks for reading guys once again! And I'll see you in a week! (or possibly less, I guess).

BTW, if you got an email saying this was published and went to see it and then it was removed, it's because I noticed fanfic didn't display ALL of the newer reviews, and I had to go back and edit. SORRY! and if I missed thanking anyone, I do apologize!


	12. New Arrival

A/N:

So, this one's semi short. But it's early! So that should counteract it's shortness, ne? Well, actually the real reason I'm updating this early is because you guys are just completely awesome. Not only did I get the most reviews ever for last chapter, but the review count for this story is now over 200! (if it were over 9000...ohh the jokes I would make). And plus I have a massive amount of hits and favorites and alerts and author favorite lists/alerts. And I feel all warm and fuzzy inside, which is amazing considering where I am.

So thanks soo much to the reviewers, who's advice and feedback and comments are what get me up in the morning (no, seriously. I stay in bed to check my iphone for mail, and if I see that I have another review, it's SO much easier to get out of bed to my computer). These wonderful people are: _Kashi Meshi, bvprincess23, Black Diamond07_ (ugh, I'm such a fail. but this time I double checked!), _The0Blind0Writer, Cara2012, omgOver9000, ZombieChick422_ (that's pretty hardcore. Glad I kept you so interested!), _Miss Tis_ (2 reviews! Thanks so much! And, ugh, headaches and I are long time enemies), _Me Again_ (Um...can Vegeta help me with that riot thing?), _Person who loves this _(oh! ha, you noticed, huh? There were just some chapters that I didn't think applied to that theme, but I did like the concept...), _Many Voices in My Head, The Azu Soul Lilly_ (thanks!), _niakay_, _foot soldier _(thanks again for the MASSIVE review)_, Duncan Luva_ (more reviews? I'm flattered with the ones I have! But that'd be awesome), _Alex274, gue22, Loved it, kickstartmyhart, ZapZapYotsuba _(it really was visually stunning!)_, artificialmasquerade_ (that's really, really flattering. so cool. I hope your friend likes it too!), _Death101-Fox Version _(HOLY SHIT 11 reviews? THANKS), _Saiyan Queen, Princess Kedeta, Tenaciousmew, xFlipJamsx, Duncan Luva (_...wait, again? thanks!), _secretsmile0 _(I did like Black Swan! that was my 3rd time seeing it...ha), _svabutterfly _(let me know what your questions are!), _Renae724_ (I'm honored that you reviewed this one!), _xXHelloKittyXx, Miss Tis _(again! thanks so much :D),_Written Twice, _and _One Winger Ryoko (_for multiple reviews, and I'll do my best! It's hard though when you're sort of a romantic, but I'll try to keep them both in character)._  
_

Also, thanks to everyone who commented about the rating! I'll keep it at T since I have never (and don't see myself ever) wrote lemons or something of the sort. There's a way to be sexy without being explicit...well, that's my motto at least.

Remember when I wanted these A/N's to be short? Ha...ha...

I'm a little self conscious about this chapter. And I guess you'll see why. I think you also might hate me by the end of it, but maybe not. Also, some of your concerns will be answered at the ending A/N.

Disclaimer: Still not mine. And it's extremely unlikely that DB/DBZ/DBGT will ever be mine. Sigh.

* * *

Maybe she was over reacting. All the smirks and secrets, it could have been some cruel Saiyan joke. She wouldn't put it past either of them, trying to scare her like that. But, then again, it would have made sense. All of their training, all of their unbelievable power. They were probably powerful enough to destroy this planet with a single blast. _But to actually do something that horrible?_ She couldn't actually think that Vegeta would do something like killing an entire race. Wasn't that the entire reason he hated Frieza? For destroying practically all of the Saiyans? But then again, Vegeta wasn't the one calling the shots.

Frieza was the sickest person she would probably ever meet. She had only met him for a couple of minutes, but she knew that he was basically pure evil: no heart, a hollow soul, and a manipulative brain that fed off of seeing other people squirm and obey him. He made Vegeta, the Prince of All Saiyans and a pretty stubborn pain in the ass, shake in his sleep.

And, if she had to think about it scientifically, it just wouldn't be, well, efficient.

_Why would he want a planet with survivors?_

It'd be too much of a hassle, wouldn't it? Frieza wanted to turn this place into some sort of resort and spa, and wouldn't the rebellious natives sort of put a damper on those plans? Zarbon had said that Frieza had only allowed her to live because he liked her. What did the alien do to the people he didn't know? Especially when they lived on planets he wanted?

But she couldn't think that Vegeta would just go along with this. Sure, it was self defense in that twisted logic sort of way, but killing innocent people? _All for what_?

Bulma suddenly missed Goku. Her problems back on Earth seemed like nothing now. Emperor Pilaf couldn't hold a candle to Frieza or Zarbon or even the lowest of the tyrant's foot soldiers. Heck, she remembered when her little gang was worried about Yamcha, a guy who seemed more terrified of _her_ than anything else. _He was kind of cute too. Maybe it would have all worked out if I had just stayed on Earth_.

She wished they were here with her, but then immediately regretted the idea. Goku, the sweet, naïve kid that he was, would probably challenge Frieza. And she couldn't see that ending in the little Saiyan's favor. Vegeta would think Goku was a Saiyan disgrace, most likely, and Yamcha? She didn't even know what the Saiyan Prince would venture to say about the desert bandit who was too afraid to talk to a girl. Bulma half smirked to herself. If she were ever to return, she may have to help that cute guy get over that little phobia.

But there was no going back now. She had no idea where she was. It was 11 months away by space travel from Frieza's station, but who knows how far away that was from Earth? She retained a sniffle, still pretending to be asleep around the awake Saiyans. _Will I ever be home again_? She hadn't minded so much before, so consumed with her wish and Vegeta's antics. But the truth was, she was only a young teenager. She was still a girl, not ready for space travel or impossibly strong aliens who thrived off of possible genocide.

The beeping of both Vegeta's and Nappa's scouters made her open her eyes for a brief moment.

"Vegeta, there's about two hundred of them coming directly towards us."

She recognized Vegeta's voice reply, "Power levels aren't too high...highest only around 1500 or so."

Bulma was still pretending to be asleep. It was a sad attempt at spying, but if this wish had taught her anything, she learned that she was a pretty terrible snoop. But she gave it a shot anyway in an effort to figure out what the Saiyans' true intentions were._ They're not revealing anything about this 'assignment' though. What are they talking about?_

"What do we do?"

"What do you think?" Vegeta's rough voice responded. "_You _fly out and meet them. I'm taking the girl away from here."

Nappa snorted, "Still protecting her? Just leave her here. I know this stage is hard, Vegeta, but it's better if you just let her die. Two hundred of them..."

Bulma had to greatly repress the urge to just shout, but she knew she had to stay quiet. Vegeta was being eerily hushed about the whole thing. She listened to the Saiyan Prince slowly approach her, white boots hitting the ground softly.

"Hmph."

Her heart jumped hearing his voice so close to her body. Bulma vaguely thought that maybe Vegtea finally _did_ have enough of her and now he was going to follow the older Saiyan's less than humane advice. _Please don't hurt me._

"See Vegeta? She's a weak girl. You've barely even touched her since we've gotten here. You're bored with her."

"Nappa." He was biting back something, but what, Bulma didn't know. His voice was ridden with a sense of aggression. She felt all her willpower focusing on trying to not run away, the air seeming incredibly thick, especially with the excess gravity. "Go there. Kill them all. I don't care how. It would have taken them days to organize an attack of this magnitude. You obviously pissed them off with your little Oozaru stunt."

"Yes, sir. But the girl..."

She felt her body being lifted, and once again, she was tossed over Vegeta's shoulder like a large sack. "She's coming with me. Oh, and Nappa..."

"Yes, Vegeta?"

"If you come back alive, I may just have to kill you myself."

Bulma noticeably flinched on Vegeta's back, but if the Saiyan noticed, he didn't show it at all. His body remained perfectly stoic, with a burning glare directed towards his former bodyguard. She heard a large sigh and rustle of materials before the older Saiyan's voice blurted, "You mated with her, didn't you?"

_WHAT?_ Bulma immediately gripped at the back of Vegeta's armor.

"Leave."

There was a rush of wind before Nappa was gone. Vegeta seemed to wait a couple of seconds before leaving the cave himself, checking Bulma's pocket first to see if the little capsule was inside. Immediate relief swept through her body, realizing that Vegeta wasn't going to hurt her. She smiled to herself, feeling secure and having something even more curious plague her mind. _Why is he doing this?_

"I don't know what the fuck you're doing to me, Girl."

She didn't know whether or not Vegeta knew she was awake. But the Saiyan Prince started hovering, before rushing off into flight. The sky whipped past her so fiercely, but Bulma held back from gripping too tightly, trying to maintain her illusion of sleep. And besides, Vegeta was holding her tightly enough.

Bulma could barely hear him over the rush of air, "I don't know whether or not to kill you or keep you with me at all times."

Her heart was pounding furiously, the exhilarating nature of flying plus Vegeta's surprising words completely throwing her off. She couldn't keep her mouth shut this time, "Option two please."

Vegeta stopped short, causing Bulma's body to jerk forward, her face now facing his. "What?" She watched his dark eyes blink in confusion, obviously not realizing she was awake.

"Even though you're a major pain in the ass, I still rather be with you than dead, Vegeta."

"Girl..."

He looked so different like this. His black, flame tipped hair was slightly battered from the wind, but within seconds, it rebounded back to its normal state, causing Bulma to giggle inwardly. Vegeta's dark eyes were so...unnerving, but in the best sense. It boggled her how five minutes earlier, she was considering him to be a terrible murderer, but now, all she saw was a lost, confused boy.

_A handsome boy too._

His strong arms had released her slightly, letting her chest press up directly against his own. She listened to him breathe, listened to his heart beat, his lips move, trying to say words that his brain probably couldn't really comprehend.

It was then her mind snapped.

How could she be _so stupid_? Wasn't she supposed to be a genius? Couldn't she solve advanced mechanics problems in half the time than top physics professors? Didn't she build her first robot when she was seven years old? And yet...it took her so long to figure out _this_?

"I was in your room."

He narrowed his eyes, frustrated that his thoughts were interrupted. "What?"

She smiled profusely. "It wasn't Zarbon's room. The dragon didn't send me to Zarbon."

"Girl, what the Hell are you talking about? What dragon?"

"The Eternal Dragon! He sent me to you!" Bulma reached her arms around his neck, pulling him closer to her body. She relished in the fact that he didn't flinch, that he seemed to actually respond _positively_ to her sudden show of affection. And she could definitely get used to being so close to him. Unlike Zarbon, his whole body screamed warmth, and her own seemed to feed off of it, like he was producing some kind of energy that made her perfectly insatiable. She was suddenly pulled away from the Saiyan by Vegeta himself, and she prepared for the impending snide comment. Bulma sighed, beating him to it, "What is it this time? I'm too disgusting for such close contact? Is this vulgar behavior as well?"

But Vegeta said nothing. He just shook his head and leaned forward, pushing his pointed nose against her neck, brushing his chin against her cheek. Hot air came in contact with her face, causing her own breath to quicken. "Shhh." His lips were dangerously close to hers, and Bulma became incredibly grateful that they were so high in the air, the blowing wind cooling off her burning forehead.

Yet that didn't last long, for soon Vegeta pressed his own forehead against hers before sliding back down to her neck, whispering, "You talk far too much, Girl."

"Vegeta..."

They stayed stationary like that for a while, Bulma losing all ability to speak and Vegeta having no desire to. He continued to examine her neck and cheekbones, rubbing certain areas gently with his lips as his grip around her waist seemed to tighten. She had never been so close to anyone before, not counting Zarbon, which she immediately chose not to. And even though she was practically staying still, she never felt such a _rush_. She jumped as Vegeta let one hand loose from her waist, producing a smirk on the Saiyan's face. "You really think I'd drop you now?"

Instead, his free hand just glided up across her skin, trailing along her arms which caused tiny hairs to stand perfectly on end. His warm hand roughly grazed against her neck, a spot he had once hurt when they originally met. And now...now she just wanted him to touch her there more, her mind swimming.

"Hmm." Bulma smiled, relaxing under his hard yet careful touches. "I don't." She leaned forward, expecting the prince to meet her half way. But to her astonishment he only recoiled his head.

"What are you doing?" His hand stopped moving and resettled around her waist, creating some distance between them

Her immediate reaction was to be terribly insulted. Bulma felt her cheeks flush red in embarrassment and annoyance, but then she actually focused on his face.

He didn't hold that pissed off look, well no more than he usually did. Vegeta just seemed genuinely confused, making her smile grow. "Guess I need to start out slow." _Who thought I'd be the one making the moves..._

She didn't intend on doing anything drastic, but she did find it horribly strange that Vegeta was so clueless about this. He seemed totally aware of the more _serious_ form of intimate expression, but kissing? Not so much.

"Just relax." She was certainly no expert on this, having only one awful experience of it in her life. And now that she was staring at the Saiyan, face to face, she suddenly felt incredibly self conscious. But she leaned in anyway, planting a delicate kiss right on his left cheek. "I'm not going to..."

The beep of his scouter made him curse vehemently. Vegeta immediately pulled back, much to Bulma's dismay, and tossed Bulma's body back over his shoulder. "This power level is far too high for any creatures on Karbos. Hold on."

He didn't have to tell her twice.

Whatever speed Vegeta was going before seemed to increase tenfold. Her mind was spinning from that brief, though totally memorable interaction they just had and with the added increase of speed. Bulma was suddenly feeling incredible nauseous.

"Damn it!" Vegeta suddenly powered down, into, what looked like a desolate city. He tossed her carelessly off of his shoulder and onto the ground, where she barely missed a piece of jagged metal. _Talk about ruining the mood._

Bulma stood up, ignoring the weight of the air around here, and started to approach the Saiyan, "Vegeta what's..."

"Go back there, Girl. Hide. Now." Vegeta's eyes weren't even on her. His attention was purely focused on his scouter, on the being coming closer and closer to them.

"But where do you want me to go?"

He turned around at that, dark eyes glancing around the wasteland. "There. Behind that building. Run there and try not to make a sound."

She waited for the biting remark about her talking or whimpering or annoying giggles, but it never came. Vegeta was incredibly serious, and it terrified her. "Okay." She slowly turned around from the Saiyan, blue eyes wide, before retreating to the damaged structure a couple of yards away.

The ground was extremely gritty on her legs as she scrambled down into her hiding place. This once circle shaped structure was totally dismantled, falling sideways to create a giant upright sphere. She pressed her back against the metal surface, only looking beyond her hiding place when she heard something land where Vegeta was standing.

The man...or boy seemed to be around Vegeta's age, maybe a year or two younger or older; she couldn't really tell. He was dressed similarly to Vegeta, although in darker colors, with thick, messy black climbing down the length of his back. Bulma flinched and turned around when her eyes caught sight of the furry brown limb wrapped around his waist.

_Another Saiyan?_

_

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_A/N:

I discovered DBM the other day and that kept me solidly amused for a couple of hours when in actuality I should have been doing my econ problem sets. Eh, but whatever. Interesting to think of ALL the possible universes that you could create from DBZ.

Did I mention that I'm actually more of a DBZ fan than Dragon Ball? And you guys expect this story to end in like 4 or so chapters? Well, actually it will. I mean, technically. But I don't think it's the end. I haven't pounded out all of the details of what I want to happen after this part of the story is over. Maybe something like a sequel or a massively long epilogue or something, but don't worry! I'll figure it out eventually. All that I _do_ know is that it'll be DBZ universe this time.

But until then, I hope you guys enjoyed this chapter! I'm still tying up some loose ends in the rest of the story, but it's coming along! Reviews are greatly appreciated as always! byebye!


	13. Kakarot who?

A/N:

I finished planning out this whole story and there are 4 more parts left! (including the epilogue and not including this part). So crazy. But I'm not going to get all sentimental yet. Let's just talk about how you guys just manage to keep one-upping yourselves EVERY TIME. Thank you^1000 to everyone who reads, and adds this story (or me) to the favorites/alerts list. It's also a part of a community now (thanks _bvprincess23_) Oh and 39 reviews for chapter 11? Ridiculous. I'm incredibly flattered and in awe that all of you seem to enjoy this.

Special thanks to all my reviewers, who constantly provide me with not only excellent feedback but an incredible high (...wow that makes me sound bad, but you know what I mean). _Renae724, Many Voices In My Head _(your questions will be answered in about 10 more lines), _Tenaciousmew, menga88 _(your questions will be answered...eventually :D sorry. and thanks! I'll go back and edit that one day), _The0Blind0Writer _(questions will eventually be answered :P Kami, I'm cruel)_, The Azu Soul Lilly_, _tess4aria _(isn't it so cool? though I wonder how Chichi took Vegito's preference...)_, rusty graham _(THAT IS SO NICE OF YOU. wow, I'm honored), _ZapZapYotsuba (_I'm glad you enjoyed their moment together :D)_, Princess Kedeta _(maybe :P.)_, kickstartmyhart, lilpumpkingirl _(two reviews :D and actually, I had the ending in my head the whole time, before I even started writing. it'll be interesting :D), _gue22 _(she hasn't figured _everything_ out yet), _ZombieChick422, Cara2012, artificialmasquerade, Death101-Fox Version, Kreion, sasusakufan2357 _(he is adorable, isn't he?), _bvprincess23 _(I'm not sure if I ever PM'd you about DBM but check the next paragraph and I'll explain), _Winrycherry101, svabutterfly_ (OH NO BROLY? AGAIN? maybe this time he can be part android :D), _WrittenTwice, Person who loves this _(2 reviews :D thank you x2! hehe, at least someone hates me for that), _Me Again_ (it's already brilliant? I've only written half a page! I mean..sequel? what sequel?), _foot soldier _(just seeing the giant block of text on my review page makes me giddy), _omgOver9000 (_I'm not sure...I seem to have a decent amount of free time, but first I need to plan everything out. It'll probably be updated relatively quickly. ...wait, I mean,...WHAT SEQUEL?)_,secretsmile0, TheDeadlyColera _(took her long enough T_T), _Black Diamond07 _(aww I love Tarble. 'Big brother!' aww), _Alex274 _(sorry D:)_, Greendragonsheart, applepie33 _(that's so nice of you!), _yuki chan212, Renaissancemom_, _Miss Tis _(thanks fr the two reviews. I love hearing what you have to say, so I'm glad you remembered!), _Saiyan Queen, _and _One Winged Ryoko._

...Seriously guys? THANK YOU.

Oh and just quick little explanation on DBM. It's a fanmade comic based on Dragon Ball Z. DMB stands for Dragon Ball Multiverse, and it basically takes every possible universe that could happen in DBZ and combines them together to face off in some sick (as in awesome) tournament. (For example, Mirai Trunks is back!(YAY)and there's a universe where Goku and Vegeta never un-fused. One where Vegeta is king of the Saiyans and of course the original DBZ universe.) It's a not finished, but the drawings are really nice and it's an interesting take on the series.

Now onto my own version of DB...

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

* * *

Vegeta smirked as the other Saiyan landed in front of him and crossed his arms. "Raditz."

"Vegeta." Raditz lowered his head in slight recognition of his prince and then straightened his back before coughing, "How have you been?"

"Don't play nice with me, Raditz. What the Hell are you doing here?" The Saiyan Prince glanced up at the sky briefly. "And who's here with you? You're power level is not the one the scouter detected."

He had not seen Raditz for at least a year, probably two now with the added travel time to Karbos. Frieza had sent the third class warrior on his own purging mission on a lesser planet to try and hone his fighting technique, but Vegeta had his doubts on its purpose. _He was probably just trying to get him killed_. _Frieza's afraid to have too many monkeys around. _He couldn't suppress the slight smile at the thought.

"I arrived back at the space station a couple days after you and Nappa left. Frieza immediately sent me after you." Raditz raised an eyebrow, "What did you do to piss Zarbon off so badly?"

Vegeta narrowed his eyes, seeming to think before turning around to the dilapidated sphere, "Girl! Come out! It's just Raditz!"

"Who?"

He smirked hearing her response and then slowly crawled out of her hiding spot, brushing off the dirt and stains from her hair and clothes. Bulma walked slowly towards the two Saiyans and looked at Raditz with a newfound interest. " Hey, have we met?"

The Saiyan did not answer her but instead turned to Vegeta, "...What is that?" His dark eyes glanced up and down at Bulma before turning fully to his prince.

"That? I'm a _girl_. Don't tell me all Saiyans are this dim-witted."

Vegeta ignored her outburst, "I've been keeping her around for my own pleasure. She was a prisoner on Frieza's ship. Zarbon took a liking to her as well, but we can see who won out in the end. She's surprisingly smart and may know the secret to performing the Power Ball technique."

"She does? But how would this weak girl know anything like that?"

The Saiyan Prince rolled his eyes, trying to ignore Bulma's heated body next to him. Raditz, though close to Vegeta's age, had never had these annoying adolescent behavioral tendencies. And as much as Vegeta's cheeks burned from what the Girl had done earlier, he had to remain focus on this new arrival. "She's apparently a genius on the rock she comes from."

"Which would be?"

Vegeta shrugged, "Some place called Earth."

He didn't know what he had said, but Raditz immediately looked panicked. His eyes grew large behind the scouter, and the Saiyan clenched his fists in fury. "WHAT? EARTH?"

"Hey, you know about Earth?" Bulma walked a little closer, extremely curious, but Vegeta held up his arm, stopping her from approaching Raditz anymore. Bulma opened her mouth in a small gasp, "What's wrong?"

Raditz seemed to reign in his anger, "Your planet...is it peaceful?"

Bulma shrugged, "Comparatively to the places you guys probably go to. Is that a bad thing?"

The long haired Saiyan looked like he was holding back a string of curses, but managed to refrain. He instead turned back to Vegeta, who watched his actions very closely. "Prince Vegeta, my brother was sent to planet Earth when he was a baby."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow at that, not entirely shocked. _No wonder that planet still seems to be intact. Raditz's little brother is probably a worse fighter than he is. _"Well, that would explain the Girl's Saiyan odor when we first met."

"Your brother is Goku?" Bulma pushed Vegeta's arm away and approached Raditz fully. "I guess you do sort of look like him! Though he's a lot shorter and younger. Wow! So are you his older brother? And do all of you Saiyans have such crazy hair?"

Raditz raised an eyebrow at all her questions, but simply went back to ignoring her. "I don't understand what happened. My brother should have..."

"What was your brother's name again, Raditz?" Vegeta quickly cut him off, sending his subordinate a wary look. "That Girl keeps calling him some disgusting nonsense. Was it Chicory? Kumquat?"

"Kakarot, Vegeta." Raditz shook his head, "Sir, if you don't mind, I'd like to speak to you."

Vegeta shrugged, "As far as I can tell, you already are."

"I mean, away from the Earth girl."

"Fine." Though he didn't fully feel comfortable leaving Bulma unguarded in now a hostile planet, he knew he also needed to talk to Raditz alone. _The weak fool will just scare her._ Vegeta shook his head at the crazy thought. What did he care if she got scared? Why did he feel this compelling need to protect her? _Fuck this._ "Over there." He pointed to a distance far away and then turned back to Bulma, "Back in your hiding place, Girl. Don't move. Not even if it's Nappa."

Bulma sighed. "As you wish, your_ highness_." She cracked a smile and got up, scooting down behind the sphere.

"This better be interesting, Raditz." Vegeta hesitantly flew up, covering about a mile or so before landing with the other Saiyan by his side. He couldn't help but look back to the broken down city he had just abandoned. _What are you worrying so much about? _He needed to focus on calming Raditz down, and, more importantly, figuring out who else was sent with him.

"I'm confused about Kakarot. I was alerted that he had an extremely low power level as a baby, but Earth shouldn't have been a problem for him at all. I thought he might have died some other way since it was taking him so long, but this girl seems to actually know who he is." Raditz clenched his hands together, biting harshly on his teeth. "And the worst part is she actually seems to be _friends _with Kakarot when he should really have torn her to shreds!"

The prince suddenly had an overwhelming urge to punch Raditz in the face, but he just breathed out instead, not wanting to incite the Saiyan, especially when he seemed incredibly off kilter. Vegeta crossed his arms in an attempt to level his mind. "Kakarot obviously failed his mission. And so be it, one last planet to hand over to Frieza."

Raditz spat, "It's a disgrace to the Saiyan race." But Vegeta couldn't help but notice the other Saiyan's eyes wander to the city behind them. "Though if I knew they had creatures like that on the planet, I would have volunteered to go there myself."

"Hmph." Vegeta's voice became dangerously low, "Don't even think about it."

"We're finally growing up, aren't we Vegeta?" Raditz's curved smile soon flattened seeing Vegeta's completely disgruntled expression. "So you plan on keeping her?"

The prince's dark eyes shifted back to the ground. "I intended on seeing if she could unlock the secrets to the Power Ball technique."

"But now?"

Vegeta paused at the third class's question. His scouter lacked the capabilities to find coordinates for planets he had never been to, and it would be another year before he could use Frieza's database. And then there was this small, but horribly persistent thought in his mind that he wouldn't send her home. He would keep her here, with him. That searing sensation on his cheek was practically a poison, driving his thoughts into this constricting spiral. This girl was supposed to be nothing. Absolutely nothing. But no matter how often he tried to pound that thought into his mind, Bulma managed to slide herself deeper and deeper, embedding herself into his brain. _What the fuck was that?_

He was almost sure she was going to hit him when she started to close the distance between them when they were in the air, but instead she just placed her lips on his cheek, so softly, almost like they weren't there at all, a ghost of something that was meant to be more. It was surely something vulgar, something foreign and completely disrespectful for a Saiyan to be doing, but Vegeta couldn't help but think how he just didn't give a shit.

Raditz raised an eyebrow, obviously confused about Vegeta's apparent frozen state, "Uh...Vegeta?"

"I do not know."

"What you're going to do with her?"

Vegeta nodded in confirmation. It was stupid and unrealistic to keep her with him and bring her back to the space station. From what he gathered, she had pissed off Zarbon a whole lot more than Vegeta had, and bringing her back almost guaranteed her death. His spine rang cold at that thought, air feeling icy and thick, practically fog like. His mouth dried up when the realization fully bloomed in his brain. He couldn't bring her back. But he couldn't leave her here or send her home.

_Fuck._

"Vegeta?"

"WHAT?"

Raditz stepped back, "Sorry. You just seem distracted."

He scowled immediately at the word. Distracted was the last thing he wanted to be. What ever happened to his focus? His plans to kill Frieza? He hadn't interrogated the girl in a long time about her interactions with Zarbon, mostly because he despised hearing her unending praise for the blue lizard. But that wasn't the case anymore. Bulma surely hated Zarbon almost as much as he did, and yet he forgot to ask her if she found out anything new. And though he used the Power Ball technique as his main reason for keeping her around, he had absolutely no intention of getting rid of her whether she knew how to do it or not. But none of this could be related back to Raditz, who would surely think his prince had suddenly become perfectly insane. _He'd be right. _"Nappa just flew off to stop a rebellion against our purge mission."

"That's probably were Jeice went to."

Vegeta raised an eyebrow, "Who's that?"

"Recent Frieza recruit. Little red guy with white hair and funny accent." Raditz shrugged, "He was sent here with me, but apparently this is supposed to act as some sort of 'audition'."

_Audition? _ Vegeta shook the thought off. There were much more concerning things to deal with than one of Vegeta's lackeys looking for a good kill. "You're not to tell the girl about any of this."

Raditz seemed confused by the nature of the command. "Any of what?"

"The purge. I don't want to distract her thoughts with how 'bad a person' we all are while she is trying to strategize a way to produce an artificial moon." The lie came quicker than he ever anticipated, and Vegeta openly smirked, satisfied. Raditz may have been dumb and weak, but he knew how to obey orders when accompanied by a justifiable reason. "Now, is there anything else you want to tell me or can we stop wasting time now and get back to work?"

"Yes, there are a couple of more things, Vegeta. Frieza wanted me to tell you that if you're successful on this mission, he'll have you 'audition' as well."

Vegeta scoffed, "You can tell him to fuck off."

Raditz bit his lip, not sure whether to defend the overlord or remain subordinate to his prince. He opted for pure silence.

"Anything else? I don't see why that couldn't just be communicated via the scouter..."

"I'm also here on a recall mission, Vegeta."

The prince didn't miss the stern nature in his voice. Raditz's face grew dark, a hazy grey proceeding over the lower circles of his eyes. The other Saiyan was about to take off, one foot already in the air, when Vegeta vanished in front of him, simmering with roughly bridled fury. "Recall _what_?"

Raditz lowered his imposing brow, knowing full well that Vegeta's power level was much higher than he could ever dream of, even in the prince's adolescence. He breathed heavily before opening his mouth again. "The girl. He wants me to bring her back right now. Lord Frieza says she's very important for some mission. I wonder if it has to do with the Power Ball..."

"No." His voice was perfectly monotone, not even hinting at the unhampered amount of anger lingering within his brain. _Bastard._ _Zarbon must have convinced him that I actually deserved some kind of punishment for breaking into his room. _He felt his fists subconsciously clench. _ He's just going to kill her._

"It doesn't have to do with the Power Ball?"

_What a fucking imbecile! His brother would be blessed if he were born with half a brain considering this Saiyan disgrace. _"No, you're not taking her. It probably has everything to do with the Power Ball. He doesn't want us to learn it and have the upper hand." _Or he's just looking for any reason to break me. _

"Upper hand?"

"I'm going to destroy that fucking bastard, Raditz." He said it so easily, the words making his mind immediately enjoy an endorphin rush.

"But...but Vegeta..."

Vegeta narrowed his eyebrows. He expected Raditz to disagree with the outburst, but he didn't understand why the Saiyan had this pleading tone to his voice. _Pathetic. _"Did Bardock ever tell you about the Super Saiyan legend?"

Raditz nodded, seeming to think a little before speaking. "I don't think any Saiyan hasn't heard of the Super Saiyan legend."

"It scares that alien scum. It's why he destroyed our planet. He's afraid one of us will become the legendary Super Saiyan, the strongest being in the universe."

The other Saiyans eyes bugged at Vegeta's words. His hands opened in shock, "Wait, _Frieza_ destroyed Vegeta-sei? But I thought it was a meteor."

Vegeta grunted, "Idiot. It was Frieza. He blasted the planet to bits, probably laughing the whole time. And here you are, telling me to hand over the Girl because that bastard told you to. So guess what? I'm not following orders from him anymore." His dark eyes blinked as the brush of wind flew past them in the air. He focused on Raditz's face, watching it twist from surprise to horror to sheer, passionate anger. _Perfect. _ Vegeta hovered lightly above him, raising one hand in the air, "What do you say?"

"...There's nowhere to run, Vegeta."

That response completely threw him. He thought Raditz would join his crusade, lift his prince on his shoulders and yell for Frieza's head on a stake. But the third class's anger quickly sizzled down to overwhelming defeat. Clenching his jaw and fists, Raditz looked beaten, destroyed. "Working for him...I thought it was for our honor, to try and live out our race's heritage of being warriors, but now?"

Vegeta watched his eyes flicker, anticipating a flood of obscenities or a scream. But nothing like that came.

"...Now, all I want is him dead. But we aren't Super Saiyans."

Vegeta huffed, "The Super Saiyan is nothing but a legend."

"Then how do we kill him, Vegeta?"

That he honestly didn't know the answer to. Raditz's expression only grew even graver at the prince's impending silence. The third class sighed and then started moving back to the city, "We can't kill him. And I don't know about you, but I rather not be killed either. I'll follow his orders."

"Do and I kill you." Vegeta raised a hand, but Raditz just shook his head.

"Jeice will kill you if you did. I'm not the only one here on a recall mission, and Zarbon's just looking for any excuse to convince Frieza that you're a traitor. Killing me will just feed the fire." Raditz didn't look happy about this at all, glancing at the ground out of fear of pure eye contact. "But I won't take her, if you promise me one thing, Vegeta."

"I don't owe you anything, Raditz. I'll kill you and kill this Jeice." But his hand didn't ignite the ki blast, the defeated nature of Raditz and the thought of Bulma back at the city refraining his more violent actions.

"You can't kill Jeice. He's strong, much stronger and faster than you are. But I would like to see my brother."

"Kakarot?" Vegeta grimaced, "What the Hell do you expect me to do about that?"

Raditz clenched his fists, "I want to finish his mission. He must be dying of shame knowing he can't even conquer a planet like Earth."

"No." Vegeta's thoughts immediately went to Bulma. She would never want a Saiyan conqueror on Earth, a Saiyan that he pointed in the proper direction.

"Then kill me."

_Fuck_. "You don't need me."

"I don't have clearance to use Frieza's database."

"It's too early." Vegeta thought quickly, "He's obviously friends with the Girl. It could be a part of his strategy to earn their trust and take over without lifting a finger. Give him more time."

Raditz eyed him curiously, making Vegeta inwardly flinch. The Earth girl's effect on him was strong, he couldn't deny it anymore. She was the only one that seemed to look out for his best interests. She didn't think securing freedom was impossible. In fact, she freely gave up her own in order to help Vegeta fight for his. But the Saiyan Prince maintained all those thoughts under the surface, keeping his stern mask. The other Saiyan bought it. "How long?"

_Never. _ "How old is Kakarot now?"

Raddiz paused. "About 11 or 12, I think. I don't really remember."

"Then you will wait 12 more years." He opted for the older approximation. "Then you can check on your baby brother. What sentimental trash, Raditz."

Raditz seemed stunned at the response. "So long, Vegeta?"

"Yes. You want to protect him from shame yet insist on finishing the job yourself. Having another Saiyan complete the assignment for you? Now _that_ is a disgrace. He'd probably rather have you cut off his fucking tail!"

His tone and scalding voice had the proper effect, but Raditz still wasn't finished. "What do I tell Jeice? I'm supposed to be reporting back in an hour."

"I killed her." Vegeta spat the words out, disgusted with how they tasted on his tongue.

"And when he comes after you?"

"He better not fucking come after me." His shoulder bumped passed Raditz as he cleared the space around him. His mind was humming unintelligible thoughts. Frieza wanted him back, wanted Bulma dead. He couldn't go back to the space station, he couldn't stay here after this planet was purged, yet he didn't know of any other place to go. _I should have looked up those blasted coordinates!_ But even Earth would only be a short respite. His scouter had a tracker, and his presence there would only be an invitation for Frieza to light that world on fire.

Wait. His scouter had a tracker...a tracker the Girl knew how to disable.

He turned his head back to Raditz who still seemed frazzled over the past conversation. "I am not to see you again, understood? I am your prince. I don't care if you're scared to even talk back to Frieza, but if I get one word of your insubordination on our deal, I will mercilessly rip all of your appendages from your body. All six of them."

Raditz seemed to count in his head before turning green and nodding his head, "Understood, Prince Vegeta." The third class pressed his scouter, "I'll go to Jeice and tell him I found ashes of her body."

"Do not tell him where I am."

The long haired Saiyan sighed, "I will not."

"Hmph." And with a white flash, Vegeta blasted back to the urban wasteland.

* * *

A/N:

I kind of wonder if the chapter title threw anyone off... but seriously. How could I have not included Raditz? :D

This chapter was probably a little more boring than others. But it's kind of necessary, so I hope you didn't mind it too much! The next one will be much more interesting (promise).

Thanks everyone for reading, and if you have any questions, don't hesitate to ask! Until next time...


	14. Heat of the Fire

A/N:

I actually don't have much to say...except THANKS TO EVERYONE READING THIS STORY! I'm glad everyone seems to be liking the story so far, and I hope this next chapter doesn't disappoint!

Special thanks to my wonderful reviewers: _Zombiechick422, artificialmasquerade, Death101-Fox Version, Winrycherry101_, _Luke, One Winged Royko, Many Voices In My Head_, _bvprincess23, kickstartmyhart, KashiMeshi, Me Again (_happy birthday :D I hope this is a good present!), _SenzuuBeanss, MrSuperSaiyan _(hmm..maybe they will ...if I can find a way to make their appearance slightly more canon :D), _foot soldier _(I apologize for not replying to your wonderfully long review! college sucks. But thank you sooo much!), _Renaissancemom, The Azu Soul Lilly (_this review makes me want to maniacally laugh for some reason :P I don't mean to make it _too_ complicated!), _Cara2012, Black Diamond07, Saiyan Queen, Strava (_Hi Mexico!), _hana-chan n.n, svabutterfly, menga88 _(phew, glad you didn't find it boring and they'll be PLENTY B/V here), _Tenaciousmew _(hehe, much better name than Kakarot), _Duncan Luva, Alex274, sasusakufan2357, The0Blind0Writer (_I guess Guldo would be the newest, well at least the weakest one...), _Princess Kedeta, jade, VegetasWife _(You should get a better idea about Vegeta's life...much later though...sorry D:), _Person Who Loves This _(HAHAHA. What a perfect thing for Vegeta to say :D), _Miss Tis _(All of them will be answered! ...eventually), _ZapZapYotsuba, Funny Village Idiot, omgOver9000 _(WHAT SEQUEL :P)_, Anne, dyingdreamsv2 _(And thanks for reviewing my oen shot as well :D :D), and _Greendragonsheart._

39. Again. Crazy. Crazy. I love you all.

Oh, I should say that I'm ridiculously tired from kicking too many people yesterday, so...sorry if my A/N is a little...umm...wow I can't even think. I should sleep.

Disclaimer: Currently too tired to have a lawsuit. So I freely admit to not being Akira Toriyama and not owning DB/DBZ/DBGT.

* * *

He approached her slowly, thinking that any sudden noise might scare her in such a hostile environment. Any normal person would be cringing in fear, glancing back and forth at the sky when suddenly thrusted into a war zone. But, as he was discovering, Bulma was not a normal a person. She didn't really seem to be hiding at all. She smiled as soon as she saw him, running up rather slowly, her legs still not used to the gravity. Vegeta half smirked at that. _I couldn't have picked something more fragile to protect. _ But he regarded it as a challenge.

His mind half hoped she would do that thing again, when her lips smoothly brushed against his face, but to his surprise, this time the Girl actually did hit him. "What took so long! I was getting all dirty hiding out behind that piece of scrap metal!"

Vegeta didn't answer her question but just placed the scouter in her hands. "Disable the tracker. Now."

"What did you say? '_Please_ disable the tracker, Miss Bulma?'"

He pushed her hands deeper to her chest, making the scouter jostle. Vegeta was running low on patience and, more importantly, time. "Do it."

"Is something wrong?" Bulma asked, ignoring her slight irritation.

Vegeta shook his head. Though it still boggled his mind a bit, he didn't want to worry her. "You're going to Earth." He wasn't sure how he would ever get there, but the Girl must have had some kind of idea. If her original story was even remotely true, she must have had some notion of where Earth was if she were traveling in space. He could at least get something off of that.

"Really!" She immediately threw her arms around the prince, making the Saiyan step back from the sudden warm graze of contact. Her body on his felt so inviting, and he found his fingers thumb through her strange colored hair. It was wild looking now, long and messy, almost like a Saiyan's. And even though Vegeta knew in his heart that this girl was no more than a weak human, he didn't stop his thoughts from running away anymore. He liked her. He wanted her with him. She was the only solace he had found since he was a little boy, and why should he have to give that up? He was a prince, and as a prince he was entitled to whatever the fuck he wanted. Even if that thing was some weak Earth girl.

"Yes." He looked at his fingers, gnawing through her hair and trying to take out bits of ruined grass and destroyed asphalt. Her scent hammered through his body. "I'm coming with you."

She pulled away at that, and Vegeta immediately tensed, feeling betrayed. He became heated and turned around to fly away, but Bulma's voice planted him back firmly on the ground. "Guess I better hack this thing pretty quickly, huh?"

He let a thin smile escape, but quickly made it vanish. "Yes. There's a tracker in the space pod too that you'll also need to disable. Now if you had listened to me in the first place, you'd probably be done by now!"

Bulma grinned and walked up to him, making Vegeta wonder if she was going to hit him again, if her light punch could even qualify as a hit. But instead, she planted another small kiss on his cheek, immediately making the prince's ki flare up. "Never change, do you?"

"Why would I?"

"Right, how foolish of me." Bulma positioned herself on the ground and started tinkering with the scouter, pressing random keys in all sorts of orders and making the device beep rapidly. Her blue eyes glanced up hesitantly, "You can sit...this may take some time."

"I don't follow orders."

"Not an order, Vegeta." Bulma smiled even though her focus was entirely on the scouter. "Just a suggestion. How about this? I order you to stay standing!"

He smirked and immediately sat, his body becoming warmer and warmer as the girl's smile grew. "I realized I haven't asked you about Frieza in a while."

Bulma immediately groaned, "Do we really have to discuss that creep again?"

"I do still intend on getting my revenge, Girl." That was a part of him he would never sacrifice. "No matter where I'm going now, I'll find him and make sure he dies by my hands."

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I really hope you do." She looked up briefly and then sighed, "But Zarbon said nothing. Absolutely nothing. I can't believe I thought _he _was my perfect man. What a riot."

Vegeta blinked, "...Your what?"

"Er...never mind. All Zarbon ever said was that you'd basically have to be immortal if you were to ever fight against Frieza and remain living afterwards."

_Immortal?_ The Saiyan Prince's mind mulled over the word. It was something perfectly unobtainable. Hell, becoming a mythical Super Saiyan was much more likely, and he had no reason to believe _anyone_ could ever be a Super Saiyan. His father had once declared it to be Vegeta's royal birthright, that he alone could posses the power to transform into the ultimate warrior. But that memory only made Vegeta scoff. It wouldn't be the first time his father lied to him for false hope. He steered his attention back to Bulma's suggestion. "He's completely useless. There's no way anyone could just become immortal." She seemed to suddenly laugh nervously before turning back to the scouter. Vegeta ignored her and continued, "But the bastard isn't immortal himself. I'll just train. I don't care how long it takes but one day he..."

"Done!" Bulma handed back the red scouter. "And now you won't have to destroy it!"

Vegeta grunted, completely satisfied, and took the scouter. He started to place it back over his eyes, but stopped hearing Bulma groan. "What is it, Girl?" _She can be absolutely infuriating. _

"Nothing..." She made that annoying noise again, that timid sort of laughter that made his heart actually feel anxious. "You just look a lot cuter without that thing on."

Vegeta's eyes widened at the words, "_Cute_? I'm a Saiyan Prince. I do not look _cute_." He replied, his voice sounding incredibly raspy.

But Bulma just continued that trilling laughter, placing her hands on her hips and closing one eye in false examination, "Who's the girl here, Vegeta? I think _I'm_ the expert on the cuteness of guys. And you're pretty cute."

"Stop saying that!"

"I don't get you!" She walked closer, placing her hands on his shoulders and pressing herself against his body. He remained stolid, completely unsure of what she was doing, of what her mind intended. Vegeta prided himself on his abilities of reading an enemy. He was an expert tactician; strategy was a vital component of battle. But Bulma was no enemy, and her actions were completely unpredictable. More energy seemed to swarm through his back, collecting deep into the lower portion of his abdomen. That warm rush invaded his brain and lungs, making his normally easy, rhythmic breathing almost labored. Bulma's lips rose into a slight grin, "Can't you take a compliment? Or would you prefer me to call you something else?"

He made no response, letting her fingers trail down his Saiyan armor, wishing that he wasn't wearing it to begin with. His thoughts stopped conflicting, and he felt immediate relief that his mind was no longer divided. Vegeta let her hands feel up his arms, smirking at her seemingly surprise face at his musculature. He allowed himself to touch her blue hair again, that color seeming more beautiful now than bizarre. She had stunning eyes, he finally realized, like nothing he had ever seen. While his were one dark hue, hers seemed to be a multitude of different shades of blue framing her black pupils in perfect contrast. _Such a weird creature._ His fingertips pressed on the top base of her neck, pushing her closer to him and earning a small squeak from the fragile girl in front of him. He let his hands feel her soft skin though his gloves, the light, thin fabric of her clothes, before residing firmly on her hips, which he also brought closer to his body. Instinct seemed to be his guide, experience surely being completely absent from his brain. Bulma's sharp intake of breath when his hot mouth hit her skin only made him press harder. His teeth lightly scraped across the taut skin of her neck, which he soon replaced by his lips. Vegeta scattered their placement haphazardly, one by her pulse, three across her jaw line, two on her collarbone, each wet touch seeming to win a different reaction from the girl he was holding so firmly.

He pulled away slightly, letting his now thoroughly labored breath fume against her hot and slightly red skin. "What did you do?" His voice sounded too deep, he barely recognized it.

Bulma blinked, taking a while for the word to fully form in her mouth, "What?" It sounded as if she hadn't been breathing.

Vegeta's smile grew cocky. He hadn't realized she was enjoying it that much. To her despair, he raised his head up, residing his lips right against her cheek. "Was it this?" He pushed lightly against her skin, trying to mimic the memorable action, but Bulma immediately pulled away.

"I didn't want to do that." She pressed harder on to him when she saw his slight angered expression. "Don't get scared, okay?"

"Hmph. Do you remember who you're talking to?"

She just maintained her grin, leaning in closer, and despite Vegeta's instincts screaming for him to move back, he remained stationary, letting Bulma's nose touch his. Her hot breath hit him like a strong punch to the face, "...I might not be any good."

He shook his head, "I don't care." His body quaked with impatience, "Just do it."

She cut him off briskly, pushing her lips onto his own. The sensation was like nothing else he had experienced. Wet, warm, rushed, yet strong. This contact was so unfamiliar and yet so distinct. He felt himself rubbing against her harder and harder, becoming insatiable at this contact. Her lips were so soft, her sweet scent striking his airways with even more power than he thought such a weak creature could ever posses. Vegeta almost broke contact when the wet tip of her tongue glided against the crease in his lips, but Bulma did it for him, thoroughly discouraged. "Open your mouth."

Vegeta smirked, "Excuse me?"

"You're supposed to..."

It was her turn to be cut off, but Bulma didn't seem to mind, hungrily indulging in the Saiyan's direct kiss. He wasn't one to take commands, not by anyone or for _anything_. He let his own tongue trail out of his mouth and press against her own, and Bulma opened her eyes, a little angry, but then happily obliged to his request. The combined heat of their bodies was consuming every inch of his skin, burning through his blood as he pressed harder and harder onto the girl's lips and as his tongue slid around her mouth.

It was sloppy and wet and harsh but completely exhilarating.

He couldn't get enough of this foreign contact. It ached his joints like a good punch to the stomach, but he didn't mind. He just became hungrier for more. There was a furious surge of adrenaline screaming in his veins, and he pushed harder onto her, his grip around her waist tightening with frantic need.

Bulma pulled away again, gasping for air and wiping her mouth of wet saliva. "That...hurt."

His breath quickly recovered, but he still watched her labor, chest heaving as she took in more oxygen. The sight made Vegeta have to refrain himself from closing the distance between them again. "What did you expect?" But he really had no idea that action was hurting her. He was already holding back enough, not trying to be too rough though his brain and hormones were screaming for that release.

"Something like that..." Bulma sat down on the dirt, legs folded on one side. "Like it was..." She stopped talking blushing instead, but pride got the best of her and she forced herself to continue, "Really, Vegeta? You know I'm not as strong as you are. But who thought it would hurt _kissing _you."

He reached down and grabbed her wrist, dragging her back up and letting her lean against his body while his fingers searched through her blue hair again. "It won't happen again. I didn't mean to hurt you."

She smiled and let her own hand touch his neck, "Who knew...you actually are sweet."

He ignored her. "Though it's not my fault you're so weak."

Bulma huffed and moved away from him instantly, "Asshole."

"Weakling." He smirked at their banter and then walked up closer. "We need to go back to the cave and leave Nappa his space pod." Vegeta narrowed his eyes seeing that Bulma needed further explanation, "You have the capsule for our space pods, and there's no way I'm letting Nappa die on Karbos. After what he's done to me, he deserves to suffer under Frieza's reign."

"Oh, okay." She placed her hands out, "Maybe now you'll hold me like a _person_ when we fly?"

"Hmph." He grabbed her waist and placed her roughly over his shoulder, "Not likely."

* * *

A/N:

So this chapter was a _little_ different than the last one. hope that makes up for the lack of B/V interaction...maybe?

Umm...I know I probably want to say something else...umm...CRAP. WHY AM I SO TIRED. I'm just going to thank everyone for reading, pathetically beg for reviews, and go take a nap. Nighty Night!


	15. Fickle

A/N:

Hi hi! Here I am fellow readers! Much more energized too! Sorry for the last chapter's short length...this one's a little longer though! And I'm updating a day earlier than I intended because you guys were awesome enough to give me over 300 reviews :D thank you! If I had the dragon balls, I'd wish to shower you all with best compliments the English language holds (who am I kidding...that's definitely not what I would wish for...) But anyway. Over 100 people have also added this story to their alerts list :D Thanks!

Special-super-ultimate-ascended-saiyan- thanks to all of my reviewers! (get ready for the long paragraph...) _Renae724, artificialmasquerade, pink-strawberries, Renaissancemom, MeAgain_, _KashiMeshi, Annechanb, bvprincess23 _(haha, I wrote the other chapter before I was dead tired :D), _Black Diamond07, Shirocan21 _(fluff is what I do best!), _Luke, ZombieChick422, XzCrimsonTearzX, Death101-Fox Version, Cara2012 _(I kind of think he's un-canon anyway, so most likely I won't be putting him in...), _Tenaciousmew, M-Katsuragi_ (glad I'm holding your interest!)_, Saiyan Queen, One Winged Royko _(Sorry!), _Many Voices In My Head, dyingdreamsv2 _(hahaha, thanks fot the two reviews :D),_The Azu Soul Lilly _(haha! I see Vegeta left you speechless?), _menga88 _(eeps! Sorry about the length! he is an impatient one though, isn't he?), _Alex274, The0Blind0Writer, mangaanime, Tainted-reflection-126 _(Panties was a stupid wish, wasn't it? this is much better, if I do say so myself), _Greendragonsheart, VegetaisMine3, Niko8, Princess Kedeta, Miss Tis _(konbanwa :D I totally didn't know you could read fanfic on your ipod), _johncorn, _and_ Person Who Loves This (_my lips are sealed about the ending...you'll just have to wait!).

Also thanks to _Volleys-chan_ for adding this story (and my one-shot! Ah!) to a new community :D Thanks!

I'm glad everyone seemed to enjoy the kiss! My first ever B/V slightly romantic scene...I should document this. Um, anyway, I'll stop talking.

Disclaimer: If I owned DB/DBZ/DBGT there would be much more romance and less GT.

* * *

Vegeta was rummaging through her case of capsules, cursing when he opened up the wrong one full of all his clothes.

"You don't need to fold them again..." Bulma sighed seeing he wasn't listening to her and continued on his neurotic habit. She sat on the ground, head in her hands, watching the prince fold his clothes before encapsulating the whole thing again. Her mind couldn't escape what they had done earlier. Bulma's knees were practically shaking with the thought of the Saiyan's lips on hers again. Sure, the pressure he put on her hurt like Hell, but it was partially the intensity that made her want to do it all over. That and the fact that he was really, _really_ cute. But she tried to distract her mind from things concerning Vegeta, knowing that she should have been more concerned with trying to get back home.

_Plenty of time for that later. Finally I can have a boyfriend! _She blinked suddenly and had to refrain herself from laughing. _Does Vegeta even know what a boyfriend is?_

Bulma quickly decided she wouldn't tell him. He'd be much more compliant with the idea if he didn't know.

"Girl, aren't they supposed to be numbered for a reason?" Vegeta opened another one, only producing her backpack. _Minus the Dragon Radar. I really hope I don't have to build another one. _She wondered how Vegeta would react to the dragon balls and her wish. _He'd probably think it was stupid. _ Bulma smiled. Yes, that was definitely what he would think.

"They are. That little description on the top of the lid describes what the capsules are, but it's pointless now since the original contents are no longer inside."

Vegeta cocked an eyebrow, "You'll have to teach me how these things work more, Girl."

"Impressed I see?" Bulma smiled, taking every compliment she could get, "Oh! And I was thinking about that artificial moon thing when you left me stranded in that wasteland."

She immediately steered his interest away from the capsules. "You were?"

"Mhm. You see, Blutz Waves are just light waves from the sun reflected by the moon. And the only main difference between sunlight and moonlight is the green radiation moonlight gives off." She paused for a second, seeing if Vegeta was still paying attention. "You can only transform in the full moon, right? Because I've been out with Goku during other phases and nothing has happened."

"Yes, "Vegeta replied curiously, "But how does that..."

"At a full moon, the green radiation increases above 17 million zeno units per second. It's probably that amount that allows you to transform."

The Saiyan Prince grunted, "Your point?"

"My _point_ is that no matter the actual size of the moon, the Blutz Waves won't exceed 17 million zeno units per seconds without that perfectly circular reflective surface. And if it were possible to compress the atmosphere in order to create such a surface that is able to reflect green radiation..."

"You can create an artificial moon." He shook his head and picked up the last capsule, this one containing Nappa's space pod. "How did you ever..."

"I'm a genius, remember?" She flashed him a short smile and placed all the capsules back into the metal case. "It might take some practice, but I think if you learn how to compress the air appropriately, you could do it."

"Of course I can, and I will." He watched her slowly stand before walking up to her, placing his hands protectively around her waist. "I have complete control in my Oozaru state. I just hope I don't scare your race when I transform."

Bulma leaned in, enjoying his warmth, "Oh, we'll just send you somewhere without any people so you can practice. Actually...I have a castle in mind for you to destroy." She smiled a bit, thinking of little Pilaf and his minions running from a giant ape. _I wonder what it even looks like_. She had no doubt that it would be terrifying, but the satisfaction of watching that short egomaniac running away in complete terror would be totally worth it. She pressed onto his stomach and jokingly said, "Just promise not to kill anyone."

"He can't do that."

Nappa's gruff voice caused Vegeta to immediately let go of Bulma, her lack of balance and the heavy gravity causing her to crash to the ground. He walked up to the prince and Bulma, eyeing the latter one with such scorn. Vegeta barely held back a predatory growl, "What are you doing, Nappa?"

The taller Saiyan ignored the question and squatted down, resting his hands on his knees as he looked straight into Bulma's blue eyes. Her heart immediately sunk, nervousness creeping over her. Nappa spoke again, "You said it yourself. Killing is what he's trained to do. Vegeta is a murderer."

_What is he trying to say?_ Bulma furrowed her eyes in confusion, bile starting to burn the lower end of her throat. "I know that...I know you guys kill the top honchos on these planets so that Frieza can take control."

Nappa sneered, "You think that's it? You think that's _all_ we do?" He gestured to Vegeta with his elbow. The Prince of All Saiyans looked practically frozen, eyes cold and stark, body completely immobile. The older Saiyan smirked in front of her, his black mustache twitching. "I just wiped out an entire race."

_What?_ She felt her jaw drop in one fluid motion and all of her limbs went numb. Luckily she was already on the ground, saving her from a nasty fall, but her mind kept spinning, turning, her worst thoughts actually being confirmed. Her thoat was horribly constricted, but the question still managed to fall out."...Wha-what?"

"I was only supposed to do half, but Vegeta was too busy having fun with you. Shame. He usually loves the bloodshed."

Bulma turned her head to Vegeta's chest, unable to look at him directly. "Is that what you meant?" The orders rang through her head, echoing hollowly. '_Half gone by the end of the week' _ "...You're supposed to kill everyone?"

"Hmph." Vegeta grunted and nodded. His black eyes unafraid to meet hers. "Frieza sends us to these planets to kill every living thing on it."

Bulma stood up and backed away from the grinning Nappa. Her stomach felt sick, and she was suddenly extremely light headed. Her left hand fumbled against the edge of the cave wall in a futile attempt to help her balance."But _why_?"

"He likes it." Nappa smiled seeing Vegeta bite his lip to suppress his retort. "Well, at least he used to. I don't know what the fuck you did to him girl, but he's barely even a Saiyan anymo..."

"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Vegeta hollered and grabbed Bulma's wrist, pulling her to his side as much as she tried to get away. He raised his free hand, aiming his palm directly at the other Saiyan's chest. "I should kill you right now!"

Bulma closed her eyes and tried to silence her quivering tears. His voice was terrifying, carrying this dark aura and tone that made her hair stand on end and her insides twist into undulated knots. She suddenly remembered their first meeting, when he had threatened to kill her too. He was dangerous, untamed. "...please...Vegeta..." Light tears started falling down her cheeks, "Let me go."

His eyes never left Nappa, not until he turned around to face the cave exit. "No." He held her wrist tighter. "We're going."

"Jeice is looking for you, Vegeta!" Nappa shouted at the steaming, exiting prince. "Lord Frieza wants you back! He just wants to talk to you!"

At that, the Saiyan Prince turned around, dragging Bulma up next to him, and raised his hand. The yellow ki blast ignited the air, reflecting brilliantly in Bulma's blue eyes and making her shrink back. The small blast flew from his palm, and Nappa braced himself for the impact that never came. The flash of pure energy turned into smoke when it collided with the small capsule holding the older Saiyan's space pod. "You don't deserve to live."

No more words were said. Vegeta just walked out of the cave and positioned Bulma back over his shoulder before flying into the sky once again.

Her hands started banging on his back, his presence suddenly frightening her. _A murderer?. He...did he really intend on killing all of those people? _ She hit him harder. _How many people has he killed before?_ Flailing helplessly in his arms, Bulma couldn't help but be plagued but what Nappa said, by what Vegeta _admitted_. "Let me go! Let me go!" Her hands were getting bruised from the impact of the armor, but she kept hitting the Saiyan in desperation. Her mind flashed to the moment before, how she heatedly kissed him, letting a _killer_ cause her to have such a thrilling, enticing sensation."Why didn't you tell me? Ugh! I should have known! That's just my luck, isn't it! How could I let myself kiss you?"

Vegeta immediately stopped and flashed back down, dropping her on the ground roughly and crossing his arms. She wiped the tear stains from her face, not wanting him to see her cry or be weak for some reason. Bulma half expected for his eyes to look twisted, shrouded in darkness. He was supposed to have his fangs bared, blood dripping from his hands and the look of pure, unadulterated evil layered on top if his lightly tanned skin. But Vegeta just stood there, eyes holding nothing but dark emptiness. He looked like the same person, arrogant, stubborn, stern, but this stigma of a mass murderer haunted her brain. "Girl..."

She shook her head, the water still rolling from her eyes. His voice was low, his attempt at being soft. Bulma, however, didn't take a step closer."Tell me Frieza made you do it all. Tell me you despised every moment of it."

"I don't like to lie, Bulma."

Her head glanced back up at that. Her name. He never said her name. The easy way his lips formed together to produce the sound made her heart pause and beat again, despite her growing uneasiness towards him. It sounded velvet, almost foreign under the developing huskiness of his voice. The tears stopped flowing, and she rearranged herself on the ground, able to make contact again. "Then why did you do it?"

Vegeta looked at her seriously, "It's in my blood, part of who I am. Your friend, Kakarot, was sent to your planet to kill all of you. We're a warrior race, Bulma. It's just what Saiyans do."

"Goku would never kill us!" Bulma stood up and shouted, in her mind thinking his excuse was utter _bull shit_, "It's just what _you_ do. And Nappa and probably that Raditz guy too! Don't try to drag Goku down with you. He's not like that. He doesn't kill people! He's not...he's not..."

"He's not what? A _killer_?" Vegeta turned around, his voice tasting like venom when it hit the air. "I'll never be like your pathetic friend. He's a disgrace to my race, a race that I am the _prince _of. What did you expect me to be! That perfect man that you were babbling about before?"

She was. He was supposed to be exactly that. And instead...

Bulma didn't know what to think. Vegeta had scared her initially, but to actually know that he was a killer? And of that magnitude? It made her want to puke, to throw up and scream until her throat ran dry.

He scoffed when she didn't begin to speak. Vegeta's head glanced over his shoulder, looking at her with a look in his eyes that screamed a very unfamiliar expression from the prince. _Is he hurt?_ His head immediately snapped away, and he stood back facing her, arms crossed and legs in a stable yet edgy stance.

She couldn't help but see a boy behind his stony face. That scared, sad boy that was ripped away from his home, only to have it blown to pieces by the beast he was forced to work for. He wasn't evil. He wasn't a monster. And no matter what her mind was saying, she didn't regret kissing.

"No one's perfect."

The words made the prince turn back around, his arms leaving his chest and falling by his side, totally limb. "I'm a killer."

"You're not anymore."

Vegeta snuffed, "You don't know that."

"Do you want to kill anyone else? Besides Frieza and possibly Nappa?" Her voice rang with confidence. She didn't know how she could let herself have so much faith in him so easily. _Someone needs to though. _He wasn't the monster here. She couldn't believe that the Prince of All Saiyans would actually waste his time hunting down defenseless creatures. There was no gain, no honor, no _challenge_. That wasn't who Vegeta was. He was stuck in this role, a puppet on strings, a killer, maybe, but not by his own free will.

The Saiyan Prince didn't say anything, the silence offering her the last bit of confirmation she needed.

Bulma smirked, "Hm, thought so."

Vegeta narrowed his eyes towards Bulma, taking a step towards her and causing red dust to fly around them. The air smelled humid yet dusty, and Bulma felt the urge to back away from the approaching Saiyan Prince. "You're willing to accept me...like this?" He looked more annoyed than confused. "What's wrong with you?"

"Hmph." Bulma whipped back her ponytail, suddenly defensive but unafraid. "Sorry if I just so happen to actually see the good in people. You may act all tough, but you've done a lot for me." She smiled at him, placing her hand on his shoulder and ignoring the noticeable flinch. "If you were truly like what Nappa was saying, you would have just killed me a long time ago."

Vegeta smirked at her cockiness, "What makes you so su-" The scouter on his face suddenly and annoyingly beeped again. "Get behind me."

"Vegeta?" She raised her eyes in confusion and flinched when he appeared in front of her, arms outwards.

But he ignored her, pointed chin directed upwards where a flash of purple energy streaked across the sky before stopping suddenly in the air.

There was another person landing in front of them with bright red skin and white hair. He was small, shorter than Vegeta, but he held such an arrogant grin that consumed his face. He flicked his hair back before speaking, letting the ends catch a bit of the passing warm wind. "Hello there. You must be Vegeta. I'm Jeice."

The prince said nothing in response, his mouth in a permanent snarl. He held up both his arms, protectively, shielding Bulma from any attack Jeice might suddenly throw.

"Not the friendly type I see." Jeice grinned and started pacing in a small circle. "Look, Lord Frieza just wants me to drag you back alive. Easy task if you ask me. And when I hand you' over I'll be promoted to this special task force, so..." The weird alien fell into a fighter's stance. "So what's it going to be Vegeta, are we gonna make this easy or hard?"

Vegeta's glare increased, "Fuck off."

"I guess hard." Jeice cracked his knuckles and took a step forward, stopping suddenly when he caught sight of Bulma on the ground. "What's that? My scouta' didn't even pick her up. Is that your girl?"

The Saiyan backed up, the heels of his boots almost against Bulma's face. "Do not touch her."

Jeice shrugged, "I'm not here for her. But I don't really get why your defending her."

Bulma latched on to Vegeta's ankle. Her past fear was nothing now when staring down at this guy. His defined muscles bulged when he crossed his arms, and even she could tell that this guy was a lot tougher than Nappa or Raditz.

"It doesn't matter what you think. Leave," Vegeta spat.

"Nah, I'm curious." Jeice leaned forward, "That blue fella' said she was some sort of spy for Lord Frieza, and here you are, keeping her as ya pet."

_What?_

Vegeta's face reiterated her thoughts. "What the fuck are you talking about?"

"That guy..." Jeice broke from his stance and placed his hand under his chin, thinking, "That feminine looking blue creep. Zarbon. He said you stole _his _pet from him."

The Saiyan Prince spat on the ground, disgusted with what he was hearing. Bulma felt his calves tense and burn with this weird energy, but she kept holding on, afraid and confused. When Vegeta spoke, his voice sounded dangerous, exceptionally low and raspy. "You don't know what you're saying. Maybe a blow to the face will do you some good!"

The ki blast escaped his hand before Bulma even realized he was firing one. The yellow light sung across the air, straight towards Jeice's face. She was so sure the pure, immeasurable amount of energy would blast him away, fry his brain or at least permanently damage that smug smile. But the red skinned alien simply raised his gloved hand, batting the blast away as if it were no more than a fly. "Ha, can't do betta' Vegetable breath? Frieza said you were supposed to be a smart little monkey. But you can't even tell who's your real enemy!"

Vegeta snarled like an untamed animal, baring his teeth slightly and then turning suddenly to face Bulma, "How did you get here?"

She blinked, entirely confused, and let go of his leg. Vegeta was the one that somehow managed to delay Zarbon long enough to save her and bring her to Karbos. He was the only one out of all of them that really knew... her thought stopped whens he realized what he was asking. Her mind dreaded this question. "You mean on Frieza's space station?"

"Yes." His voice sounded gritty. "How did you get there? How did you get into my room?"

"I..." Bulma shook her head. She couldn't look at him like this. The anger, the feeling of betrayal and mistrust were seething from his black eyes. But she couldn't tell him about the dragon balls, not in front of Jeice, not when she was still unsure of what he would wish for. "I'm not a spy, Vegeta."

"Yeah, yeah, sure little girl." Jeice fell back into his fighter's stance. "Look, I don't care what she is. Spy, whore, it's all the same to me. But Raditz was supposed to get her back and return her to her proper master. That's all I know. But I'm thinking if he fails his mission" That smile on his face only seemed to grow, "... it just makes my success look even betta'."

Vegeta's eyes flickered from Jeice back to Bulma on the ground. "What's your point?"

"I'll let you even the score if you come quietly."

She bit her lip, hands cutting deep into the ground from fear. Vegeta was perfectly expressionless, staring at her with no feeling, no compassion. Absolutely nothing. It scared her completely. Her voice was strained sounding as she tried to maintain the tears from breaching her eyes. "Vegeta..."

"Shut up, Girl." He twisted back to Jeice and let loose a smirk, "That's very generous of you. I'll take you up on your offer under one condition."

Jeice raised an eyebrow, "You're not really in any position to negotiate, Vegeta."

The Saiyan Prince just crossed his arms over his chest. "Let me enjoy one last _moment_ with her. And then I'll kill her and meet you back at our camp." He roughly ran his hands through her hair, pushing harshly on her scalp to make her flinch. "Surely you understand. It'd be much more...fulfilling."

Bulma watched the short red alien's lips curl in distaste with the plan, but he eventually nodded. "I'm giving you an hour. Otherwise you may have _accidentally _died in a struggle." Jeice evilly smiled and glanced to Bulma, "Have fun, sweetheart." He gave Vegeta a warning look and flew back, disappearing in the orange sky.

* * *

A/N:

Oh goodness. What's going to happen D: Well, we'll all find out eventually! Next one is really the _last _one I intended on writing, so...umm...yeah :D And there's this faux-epilogue deal...but, you'll see eventually. I hope you enjoyed this chapter guys! And it would mean the world to me if you left just a short review! (Such good motivation really, not that I have any _other_ stories to write). Byebye!


	16. The Escape

A/N:

Hi Guys! I'm sad, but anxious, to present to you the last part of this story. I just wanted to thank all of you for your continuous support through out this story's existence, and that this story would not have been brought into fruition without all of you! Yes, I mean ALL of you :) (silent readers and all).

Shout out to my wonderful reviewers, who always have the nicest (and most helpful!) things to say: _Death101-Fox Version, Renaissancemom, Anmylica, One Winged Royko, ZombieChick422, Greendragonsheart, Miss Tis i(_Oyasumi nasai made me super happy as well!), _Cara2012, Alex274, Strava, menga88, kickstartmyhart, AngelZ of Darkness, Pilipili, MrSuperSaiyan, Vb4Life, Person Who Loves This, Many Voices In My Head _(Vegeta always has a plan!), _artificialmasquerade, bvprincess23 (_I think all of us are a little insane :D), _Duncan Luva, Black Diamond07, Betzmyn, B.M. Zephyr (_for your review all the way back from chapter 2...), _The Azu Soul Lilly (_eep.)_, apple pie 33 _(from chapter 14!), _reodavle, omgOver9000, foot soldier, Me Again _(...why can't Vegeta save me again?), _MojoJojo, Tenaciousmew, Httenschweiger, _and _Saiyan Queen_!

Note: I am an incredibly bad author and forgot to list **omgover9000** in my last horribly long A/N. SORRY SORRY SORRY. If for some reason, I didn't mention you, let me know! I'm terribly sorry in advance.

So this ending that I've prepared has been with me for a while. I came up with it before I even wrote this fic, so...yeah. For all of you who had your own expectations of how this story should end, I hope that you enjoy this chapter for what it is.

Please read the A/N at the end :D That's all I request. (after you finish the actual story first, of course)

Disclaimer: I barely own my car. We want to talk about me owning a manga series? Ha. Ha.

* * *

She flinched back when Vegeta's full attention strayed to her again. His face was totally unreadable. He didn't look angry, but she knew he was. Behind those dark eyes he was divided over Jeice's words. Bulma stood up to confront him before he could open his mouth. His head jerked back, obviously not expecting her to be so forward.

"I should kill you." Vegeta eyed her closely, but Bulma kept walking up. "You should be dead right now."

"But I'm not." Bulma stopped and lowered her hands, setting them behind her back. She let her long blue hair catch the wind. The thin strands got caught in her eyes, but she tried to pay them no notice. She needed to focus on what Vegeta was thinking. Her spine tingled with fear, but she couldn't let that overwhelm her. She needed to be strong, to be fearless, to show Vegeta that she hadn't done anything to betray him. "I'm not afraid of you."

It surprised her that she wasn't lying. He could crack her back in a second, have her body roasting from a ki blast before she could even comprehend what was happening. And he was just denounced a murderer by the one person in the universe that knew him the longest.

Was he a killer? Or was he what she had been looking for this entire time?

Her blue eyes looked all over his body, his short yet lean and muscular frame looking almost shaken, his inner strength vibrating off of him. He had more strength, Bulma thought, than she would ever know. Not just his insane physical prowess, but mentally. He had figuratively been through Hell and back and here he was, a little worse for wear but still whole. Forced to kill for the man he despised. Beaten bloody by the men who only berated his dead heritage. She doubted she could have survived it even if she were a Saiyan.

"Why aren't you?"

His dark eyes glinted at the question, and he made a low huffing noise before speaking. "Why aren't I what, Girl?"

"Killing me. Why didn't you? You had every opportunity to kill me and yet here I am. When I first came into your room, I could have been a spy, but you tried to get me to help you. You _offered _to help me even though I was in no position to negotiate. You risked your life, probably, in order to save me from Zarbon and Frieza. And now you think I'm his spy? So just do what you should have done all along. Kill me." She sounded more frustrated and annoyed than scared. "I'll never go home anyway, so what's the point?"

"Idiot." Vegeta grabbed her arm suddenly, destroying the distance between them when his face flashed directly in front of hers. "You don't understand."

"No." Bulma shook her head ruthlessly. She watched him breathe harshly and then tense up, but she didn't back away. She had been with Vegeta too long to just simply write him off now. "I don't. I don't understand who you are, Vegeta. Are you a prince or a mercenary? Are you going to kill me because that Jeice guy told you to or are you finally going to stand up for yourself and take your life back?" She shuddered at her last words, her voice unknowingly rising and rising until she was basically yelling at the prince in front of her. Bulma still couldn't read him. He just looked at her, that same arrogant frown plastered on his face.

"That's it," he said with a knowing look.

She raised an eyebrow at his sudden words, "That's what?"

Vegeta maneuvered his head lower to her neck. Her fear increased tenfold when he started breathing, the hot waves of air hitting her skin and sending chills pulsing through her pores. "Why you're still here." The distance between them was nonexistent, chest flushed against chest, waist against waist. "You're fire, Girl." He shook his head, brushing his warm skin nonchalantly across hers. "It's incredibly...attractive."

Her mouth fell open a little, and she expected him to lean in, anticipated the moment of when he lit her body completely on fire with his kiss. That sudden rush of energy, the feeling of his warmth sweltering every inch of her raised skin was making her lungs drum in a rhythmic march. Vegeta was something else, truly alien. Perhaps it was his mysterious, bad boy attitude that made him appear insanely alluring or his undeniable strength and power. But whatever it was, she was thoroughly enjoying it. This hadn't been a waste of wish, not at all.

"You really need to stop that incessant sniveling though." His dark eyes flitted from her mouth back to her blue eyes, and Vegeta took a step back, causing Bulma's heart to slow a bit.

_What are you thinking Bulma Briefs? _

She hadn't noticed the small tears in her eyes, her yelling producing them, most likely. Bulma hurriedly wiped them away and looked back up towards the Saiyan. The rational side of her knew this was a mistake. Vegeta was rough and unpredictable. He was in no way the perfect boyfriend. Yet she still felt like she needed to defend him. She was never the one for the easy way out. Going on a quest for dragon balls just for a boy? She was pretty enough. It would have been easy to get any boy in high school with her stunning combination of brains and beauty. But that would have been boring, uninteresting, and _predictable_. She didn't want average. She wanted adventure. And Vegeta was exactly that.

"So it's my fire?" Bulma smiled and rested a hand on his chest. "That's it? Not my incredible personality? Or legendary beauty?" Bulma tensed when Vegeta bent down, kissing her neck with soft suckling noises. His wet traces of kisses made her inwardly stutter, but she somehow managed to continue, "Or...my unequivocal intelligence?"

"Hn." There was only a slight grunt in response, but she didn't mind. Vegeta raised his head up for a second, pressing his lips, this time gently, on her own. The red flush was instantaneous on Bulma's face, but Vegeta didn't even comment. The Saiyan Prince took a step back, out of arms reach. "Bulma..."

There he went with her name again. It was almost like he did that whole 'Girl' thing on purpose, saving her name for certain moments to make her truly want to just grab him and kiss him as harshly as possible. And she would have too, if that name hadn't made her knees incredibly weak, and if Vegeta weren't currently a little too far away to just grab.

He seemed to notice her heavy breath and took a step forward, rubbing his hands on her upper arms, making her arms tense and relax from the warmth of his touch. She craned her head forward, waiting for their heated collision, but Vegeta raised one finger, stopping her advance. "I'm going back."

_What_? "To the cave?"

The Saiyan Prince had already backed away, readjusting his scouter and looking at the orange haze of sky. "To Jeice. He'll expect me to report back with you dead." He grabbed something from his pocket, a capsule, and let his arms fall. "I didn't realize you had my ship with you. I only turned around for a second and you were gone. Got it?" Vegeta held the capsule towards her, "Take it."

"What?"

He was suddenly angry. "Stop being stupid, Girl! Take the damn pod and get the fuck out of here!"

"Vegeta..."

He threw the capsule on the ground, causing the silver case it carried to poof out. "Just shut up and listen to me! This is the only way for you to live. Take the ship and go. I'll handle Jeice and Nappa and whoever else gets in my way. But you have to leave."

"No." She shook her head as the words were sinking in, but grabbed the silver case. "I'm not leaving you here to die."

"Fuck, Girl. Just go! There's a tracker inside the space pod. The technology isn't as complicated as the scouter, you'll know how to disable it."

"I'm not leaving without you."

His dark eyes pierced her furiously. He was angry and quickly approaching her. Vegeta grabbed the cold, sleek case from her hand and opened it with clear, decisive movements. He paused briefly, looking at the different capsules in calculated thought, and then picked up one of them and tossed it to the ground, producing his space pod. Vegeta harshly grabbed her wrist, stinging her skin. There was a little remote control, letting him open the pod's door. Once it had opened, he pushed Bulma inside harshly. Her back hit the cushioned seat roughly, but Vegeta didn't seem to notice. "See those buttons?" He pointed to a group of four arrows. "You plug in the coordinates there. If you have any idea where your planet is, you'll find it after you disable the tracker."

Vegeta ignored her shakes of disagreement, and pushed her back down, seeing her attempt to stand up. He maintained one arm over her, flush against her chest. His arm held her there, trapping her to the seat like an iron bar across her collar bone. "That button over there prepares for the launch. That one is the hibernation unit. It should be all you need. The hibernation unit will automatically sync with your plugged in coordinates. You should wake up 20 minutes before landing, ideally."

"Vegeta..."

"You're leaving here." He paused, gritting his teeth. "I rather you die in space than go through Hell with me."

Bulma shook her head, "Just come with me, right now. I'll disable the tracker, and they won't find us."

His gloved hands pointed to a rectangular bar on the dashboard. "When the space pod turns on, you'll see there's not much fuel left. It should last you for a while if you set the speed conservatively." He pointed this time to a dial, most likely for the speed control. "But I can't assume Jeice has the same amount of gas we do. I don't know where he came from. I don't know whether or not he can breathe in space." Vegeta took his arm away from her chest, "One hour isn't enough of a head start if he can go faster than you. He'll follow us, Bulma. But he won't follow you."

"I can't operate this thing, Vegeta." Though she probably could figure it out. "I can't work it without you."

"You'll do it. You're leaving." His voice was firm, completely stiff.

"I'm not! I'm not leaving you here to go back to Frieza! I can't do it!" That last part seemed to finally get to him. Vegeta didn't want to go back to Frieza. She saw it flash in his dark eyes, the torture, the beatings, the suffering of his pride. The alien overlord would forever keep his little pet monkey, broken and defeated, locked up in a cage. The Saiyan hesitated before he started to hover off the ground, eying the horizon line. She needed to stop him. "Wait! Wait! What if you go destroy his ship?"

He turned back to her, "What?"

"You destroyed Nappa's ship, right? So just destroy Jeice's and I guess if that Raditz guy had one too. Then they can't follow us." It was a way out, a desperate solution, but at least it was one that could potentially keep them both together and _alive_.

"What if I can't find them?"

Bulma smirked at the doubt in his voice, "That's unlike you, Vegeta. Since when can the Prince of All Saiyans _not_ do something?"

Vegeta fell back to the floor and nodded at her retort. "You're right. I'm not going back to Frieza." His dark eyes went over her body once again before he grinned slightly, "I hope your pathetic planet is ready for a prince of this caliber."

Her body hummed at his other meaning and she let a sly smile graze across her face. "Hmmm...I think we'll manage." Bulma crawled out of the space pod and immediately placed her hands flat against his chest, digging her fingers slightly against his white armor. "I did something to you, didn't I?"It was barely a whisper, something she didn't exactly want him to hear.

"Hmph."

She smiled, knowing she wouldn't get a straight answer. "I'm glad you're coming with me, Vegeta."

"It'll be acceptable considering the conditions I was living under before."

Bulma shook her head before resting it against his chest. He was only an inch or two taller than her at best, but she didn't mind. She felt his chin lower onto her head, felt his chest fall and rise with his strong, empowered breathing. His breaths were deep, almost uneven, and she had the slightest feeling that he might have actually been really worried. Bulma heard plops of fabric fall onto the ground, and felt his bare hands, his calloused skin, push at her cheek. She grinned at his touch, pushing her head deeper into the contour of his neck, smelling the beads of sweat and dust intermingling with his scent. "Never change, do you?"

He raised her head up and kissed her, with a roughness not too dissimilar from passion. His lips were dry this time, scratching at her bottom lip like sand under her toes. Vegeta reluctantly pulled back, wetted his lips, and embraced her again. Bare hands went across her face, spreading warmth from her cheeks to her temple all the way through her blue hair.

She steadied herself on his shoulders, leaning against his sturdy body, partially for balance but mostly because she just craved to be closer. His hands moved down from her head, following every curve of her figure until they grasped forcefully onto her hips. Bulma gasped slightly at the new pressure, and Vegeta took full advantage, sliding his tongue quickly into the small opening of her lips.

This kiss was hard, but Bulma didn't mind. Vegeta was noticeably holding back, but that didn't make this connection anything less than powerful. He still felt new on her, but no longer awkward, surprising but without that unnecessary dose of doubt. They weren't as frantic, but there was an overwhelming tone of desperation linking them together.

Bulma broke first, needing to breathe but wanting to do anything but. Her hands moved from his shoulders back to his flat chest, where she once again laid down her head, "You think Jeice will find you?"

"Perhaps." His tone was flat, encouraging neither the more optimistic nor pessimistic way of discerning the statement.

"You won't fight him, will you?"

"I will have to if he finds me."

Bulma gulped and maneuvered her hands, tugging him into a reluctant hug. She noticed him tense at the new, less sexual but certainly still intimate, contact. "I'll wait for you."

He relaxed his shoulders at that and moved back a little, breaking their connection completely. Vegeta grabbed his gloves from the ground and placed them back over his hands. "Give me an hour."

"And then what?"

Vegeta's voice lowered slightly, "Assume I'm dead and leave."

"But..."

"If I attack Jeice, they'll know I'm doing it to defend you. They'll be coming for you next. One hour and then you leave. That's already too much time."

Bulma didn't nod, but sat on the ground, watching the Saiyan Prince start to hover. "I'll wait for you."

"Girl..."

"I'll be right here when you return, Vegeta." She flashed a small smile, ignoring the worry staining her heart. "You can trust me on that."

* * *

They were easy to find. Too easy.

He started from the area where he had detected what was probably Jeice's power level. The two pods were only about ten yards away from one another, each nestled in their own craters, like eggs in a cracked nest. It took only two ki blasts, maybe a maximum of 20 minutes, and Vegeta was off again, flying back to his own pod, but more importantly to Bulma and to his escape.

Vegeta couldn't stop the slight grin on his face from forming when he saw the sphere of metal exactly where he had left it. Not that he was exactly expecting her to run away; he knew she wouldn't do that. She was so naively sincere, meaning exactly what she said and saying exactly what she felt. It had annoyed him to no end, but it was also partially why he was here right now. She was honest with him. And even when he was completely honest with her, she still hadn't...

"Girl?"

The space pod door was still open, but Bulma wasn't inside. Vegeta hurriedly pressed the button on his scouter, immediately setting it to look for the smallest power level possible, but it picked up nothing.

His ki slightly raised, Vegeta used his increased energy to flash into the air with one solid white streak. But even from his newly obtained aerial view, he saw nothing. Nothing but ground and steaming pools of pale water. No bright blue in the orange red plains. ""Bulma!" No reply. "Fuck!"

He landed back down and immediately started looking for signs of a struggle. _That bastard must have killed her! Fuck! _ But there was nothing there. No smoke remains of a ki blast or any signs of a fight noticeable on the ground or his space pod. And with closer inspection, he noticed that Bulma hadn't even started disabling the space pod's tracking device. _What's going on?_

Vegeta sneered at this familiar emotion in his chest. She wasn't here. She hadn't kept her promise. She hadn't waited for him. But where could she have gone?

He spent what seemed like forever scouring the surrounding area. But all he saw was emptiness. Red plains and charred bodies, lying next to dried, crusted blood. Nappa totally desolated the planet. He could detect only three other life forms, and all of them were far too high to ever be Bulma's. _What the fuck happened?_

There was this weird constriction in his chest as he landed back next to his pod. He saw where she had sat before, her pale legs spread out haphazardly, inviting him to come closer although he wouldn't know what to fully do with himself once he did. Her last words stung at him. His brain rattled with confusion and the disgusting sensation of loneliness. Vegeta froze as the full realization sank in. He was abandoned here; one of his last hopes of ridding Freiza was ripped out of his chest so suddenly, with such careless decisiveness. She had left him hopeful, filled with actual reason to live, but it all came thundering down in a flurry of red dust and desertion. He felt sick to his very core. Vegeta barely even blinked when he felt the three remaining bodies fly towards him.

"Hello, Vegeta. I got a little impatient. What's with the spike in your power level?"

He inwardly cursed as Jeice approached, flanked by the two familiar Saiyans. He knew they had been tracking him, the explosions from the space pods were too loud and strong for them to simply be ignored. But he had been hoping that the Girl would have been ready to go. Two minutes and they would have been out of this planet's gravitational pull. Out of the reach of Jeice or Frieza. But boy, was that plan fucked up now.

"Fuck off, Jeice."

Jeice didn't. "Where's your girl?"

Both Nappa and Raditz glanced around the space pod, and then turned back to the Saiyan Prince, confused. Nappa raised an eyebrow and approached Vegeta, "You finally got rid of her?" He patted the younger Saiyan's back harshly, making Vegeta slightly flinch. "Damn, finally! It's hard the first time, Vegeta. But don't worry you'll..."

"Shut up, Nappa."The bitterness in his voice was devastating.

Raditz approached him more calmly, "She's gone?"

Raditz's question seemed to scar him. His mind processed all tangible options of her disappearance, but none made sense. She had promised to be right there and she _wasn't_. Vegeta held back the urge to shout for her again. They hadn't killed her, and besides him, there were no other life forms remaining on the planet. But Bulma was gone, completely gone. The scouter retrieved nothing, and her scent was slowly fading away, getting caught and lost in the humid air and dust. This sudden tightness in his chest left him paralyzed. She had come and gone in an instant, leaving nothing behind except for inevitable wreckage and betrayal.

Vegeta growled, turning off his declining thoughts. "Who cares where she went!" He turned back to Jeice, "What do you want? Here I am! Take me back to the purple lizard and be done with it!"

"Alright, Vegeta. But it seems our space pods might have malfunctioned." He brought out his own silver remote. "They won't answer the recall." Jeice nodded towards Vegeta's ship, "Mind calling back to headquarters and telling them we need three more of them pods?" The idiotic red alien was doing him a favor for not blaming him for the pods. Jeice saw that Vegeta was trapped, that he had no other option but to obey, and here he was, taking pity on him like he was some fucking weakling.

He pressed the button on his scouter first, tracking Jeice's power level and then cursing softly when it was well beyond his own. He was stuck again, with a now extremely pissed off Zarbon and maybe even an annoyed Frieza. He didn't know if Raditz would squeal about his plans to finally defeat the monster. He didn't know how or when he was ever going to become powerful enough to accomplish his goal. _If it's even possible without immortality._

Vegeta grunted in affirmation and immediately set the command in his scouter. Some lowly soldier had responded immediately, saying that the pods would be sent from Planet # 107 and that it wouldn't take more than a few hours.

He turned his head away from Jeice's smug face, concentrating on his own pod and then the small, silver case residing on the inner seat. Vegeta immediately walked forward. Her sweet scent suddenly over powered him as he sat in the seat. He picked up the tiny case from the floor, holding it so fragilely, like it was made of glass and not solid metal.

"Vegeta?"

He didn't look up at his name, hoping the idiot would get the hint and leave him the fuck alone. But he wasn't so lucky. His gloved hand glided against the top of the case, making sure it was sealed before slipping the object under his seat.

Raditz's voice continued, "Vegeta, we're heading back to the cave. You coming?"

Vegeta nodded looking at the pod passively before following the three other henchmen back across the orange wasteland. He didn't know why the other teenager had phrased it like a question, as if he had a choice to do anything but.

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A/N:

Before you kill me, let me at least explain some things! I'll be releasing a sort of (but not really) epilogue later on this week. It's not too long but should explain some details. This ending was hard for me to write. I usually do fluff (not that you know..but yeah), but I don't know. Having a cutesy ending just didn't seem right yet. I hope all of you enjoyed this fic. It's the longest one I've ever written, and I've missed plenty a party to sit on my butt and type (not that I really minded :D). Thank you everyone for reading this, but this isn't this story's final goodbye!

Oh, and for anyone wondering about a sequel, well I guess it's okay for me to admit that I've actually finished the first two chapters. So yes. There is a sequel, and yes, I am writing it now. More information about that will be relayed in my next update!

Reviews are my biggest motivators. If you have any questions or comments, I'd love to hear them! Bye for now!


	17. Homecoming

A/N:

...um, hi. I hope everyone doesn't hate me too much, and I'd like to say that this chapter is much happier and fulfilling, but...it's not. This story is just the beginning, and I'm half thinking that this 'sequel' I'm writing isn't really a sequel at all. It's more like a part 2. And everyone worried that I won't complete the sequel, please have faith in me! This story is like a baby to me. And good mothers don't abandon babies. College is a bitch and it's prelim season over here, so it might take a while for me to update. But I promise that I _will_ update. Promise on a shooting star (oh wait, this is DBZ fandom, not FF7...ignore me).

Thanks everyone for reading the last chapter :D I appreciate all of your comments (The good and the bad), and if this..um... (jeez, I don't even know what to call it), chapter doesn't answer some of your questions, let me know. _M-Katsuragi_, _Death101-Fox Version, Black Diamond07, hannamarin, artificialmasquerade, Shirochan21, Httenschweiger, Renae724, Renaissancemom, menga88, fgfgfgf, AngelZ of DarKness, Cara2012, Person Who Loves This, YourFicBrokeMyHeart _(D:), _gege, Tenaciousmew, Silver Apocalypse, ZombieChick422, kickstartmyhart, Anmylica (_I hope this part clears things up), _Many Voices In My Head, The Azu Soul Lilly, miss ink, Alex274, Princess Kedeta, any, dyingdreamsv2, Me Again _(can the riot wait until I finish the sequel D:), _bvprincess23_, _omgOver9000 _(Yay!)_, One Winged Royko, The0Blind0Writer _(I'd like to know the name of my sequel as well...I will brainstorm!), _apple pie 33, Keep writing _(I will!)_, reodavle, _and _rantichan._

Um, what can I say? Oh, emotional time.

THANKS EVERYONE. This story was sheer pleasure to write, and by doing so, I have fallen even more in love with the DBZ fandom. I cannot properly express my gratitude to all of you who have read or reviewed or added this fic to whatever. You're my drive, and I will continue to write for you.

As for this, um, "epilogue", I hope it clears up some questions. I altered the Dragon Ball timeline a _little _bit, but it's explained through Goku's babbling. It was a joy to write other characters (as much as I love Bulma and Vegeta), and I hope you see this chapter as a sort of bridge between the AU and the better known DBZ universe.

Disclaimer: I own nothing.

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She fell flat on her butt, the ground soft and sandy, the air thin and light, coloring her cheeks an immediate shade of light pink. _What...what just-_

"Bulma!"

She was immediately smothered by a tiny boy dressed in bright orange. His black pointed hair spiked in every direction, and Bulma felt her muscles ache from the intense hug. "Goku! Is that you?"

"Bulma! You're safe! We did it! The dragon balls worked!" Goku laughed happily to himself, still maintaining his death grip.

Her mind was still swimming. _Is this real? Am I back on Earth?_ It didn't really make sense. She was just about to disable the tracker. She was on Karbos. She was with Vegeta. But her blue eyes only saw the small boy hugging her. "Erk...yeah it worked, kiddo, but mind letting go? You've gotten really strong!"

"Haha." Goku loosened his hold on Bulma's chest, scratching his head guiltily. "That's because I was training with Master Roshi!"

Bulma's eyes narrowed, "That pervert! I hope fighting is the only thing he taught you, Goku."

"Well, I think so. Why don't you ask him? We're on his island right now."

It was then she realized how bright it was, the sun shining so freely, not shrouded with red haze. She was no longer on Karbos, no longer in the middle of space, on a side of the universe she hadn't even known existed. It was surreal. She fingered the sand on the beach, letting the rough grains divide and fall through her fingers, collecting into small ant hill size mounds. The ocean was beautiful, so blue so clear. Bulma watched the waves lap onto the shore, retreating and coming back and forth, rocking her into a dream like coma. _Vegeta..._

"You didn't see... anyone else here, did you?" Bulma was practically holding her breath, not fully realizing what she was asking.

Goku blinked, "Someone else? What do you mean?"

"I don't know...I just thought there might have been another boy here too."

She knew the answer would be no. They wouldn't think about Vegeta...they didn't even know who Vegeta was! _He's all alone again. _The thought tore her apart. Bulma sighed deeply, no longer able to look at Goku, his brown tail reminding her of the boy she had left behind. _Is he even alive?_ Jeice could have found him. She had been waiting a while, well at least it had felt like a while. Bulma was rather impatient sometimes. It could have been only ten minutes, but what if it were more? The sudden darkness and transport back to her own world distorted her thoughts a bit. What if it had been longer? What if Vegeta was dead?

Goku suddenly smiled and grabbed her hand, excited. "Oh! I get it!" He pulled her around the pink Kame House. "He's right over here!"

Bulma's eyes widened in pure excitement. _Is Vegeta really here? But how could that be? _ Her thoughts ran with answers. _Maybe the Eternal Dragon respected my promise to him...or maybe my previous wish overrode Goku's!_ She grinned to herself. That seemed plausible enough. She had wished to be with her perfect man, and if someone had wished her back to Earth it only made sense that...

"Yamcha!" Goku called, "Yamcha! Why are you hiding? You knew Bulma was going to come." He scratched his head, "Boy, that's weird. He was so excited to wish you back too."

Bulma tried to mask her disappointment, feigning flattery. "He was?"

"Mhm! We were training for this really big tournament! Something like Budokten-"

There were small footsteps as another kid approached. This one was wearing the same uniform as Goku, the kame kanji scribbled on his upper chest. His head was shaven, and Bulma could make out six tiny burn marks on his forehead. "The Tenkaichi Budokai, idiot."

"Right!" Goku nodded, "The Worlds Martial Arts Tournament! It was amazing! Yamcha was there and so was Krillin and this really strong guy who actually beat me named Jackie Chun, and the whole thing had to get delayed for some reason because this giant monster came and destroyed the arena!"

The little boy next to him fidgeted and sighed, "You really are dimwitted, you know?"

The other boy's reaction struck her funny, and her eyes focused on Goku's tail movements. "Was there a full moon?"

"Yeah, you know about that..." The boy's eyes glanced to Goku. "..._monster_? Goku said it might have been the same one that killed his grandpa, so we're not really supposed to talk about it." He suddenly held out his hand. "I'm Krillin by the way."

"I'm Bulma."

Krillin waved her off, "Yeah, yeah. I know. That older guy keeps complaining about when he was going to see you again."

Bulma rolled her eyes, disgusted. "Master Roshi's such a creep! I knew Oolong went too far back at Fire Mountain! Ugh!"

"Not Master Roshi."

A different, yet familiar voice made her turn her head away from the two young boys, only to see Yamcha, his long hair now cut, framing his face so perfectly. Her mind flashed with confusion. "Yamcha?"

"He-hey Bulma." He took a deep breath before beginning to take a step closer towards her. His mouth opened to say something else, but the poor guy seemed unable to speak. That's when Puar, the little blue shape shifter, flew out from behind him, coughing a bit to refocus Yamcha's mind. The bandit gulped and then continued, "...I'm, um, glad to see you're okay."

Goku grabbed the edge of Bulma's shirt, tugging. "He was real worried about you, Bulma. He said I had to use your radar to find all of the dragon balls to wish you back."

Anger suddenly went through her body, "So you're the one who had my radar! Gosh, Goku! I was really worried. It took a lot of time to get that thing running, and you just stole it, didn't you?"

"Sorry, Bulma! But I really wanted to find my Grandpa again after the dragon granted your wish."

Bulma sighed. _What a naive kid. _The young Saiyan actually thought his Grandpa was the four-star dragon ball. "Well, it's not like I needed it where I was."

Yamcha suddenly found his voice again, "Where did you go, Bulma?"

She wasn't used to hearing her name so often. Bulma. Bulma. Bulma. Her thoughts kept going back to Vegeta, his black hair and eyes, his unnecessary obsession with calling her 'Girl' or 'Weakling', saving the name 'Bulma' for instances when he truly wanted it to mean something. On this little island, nestled in one of the warmest spots on Earth, she felt cold. She missed his warmth, his energy, his _fire_. _Vegeta...you're gone, aren't you?_

"Bulma?"

There it was again. She glanced back up from the ground to Yamcha, who's own dark eyes had some foreign amount of concern. The desert bandit turned apparent tournament fighter was a confusing guy, she thought. He had followed them for miles and miles, trying to steal the dragon balls for himself, and when he actually got them, he had wished her back! _What did he want for his wish anyway? _ She smirked when she remembered him complaining about it and smoothly said, "I like your hair."

It was right before she thought of the Kamehameha as a way out of that oven. Their wishes were so similar, so insanely shallow, but it had seemed like the most important thing to her at the time. She briefly wondered what Vegeta would wish for if he had a chance. _To be stronger than Frieza? His own freedom?_ She had held back on telling him though. It seemed to almost put his whole life to shame. He had worked to survive, worked to become as strong as he was today, and to have all of that effort be meaningless when you could wish for it in an instant? The stubborn prince wouldn't have been happy. Tempted, but not happy with himself for taking such an easy way out.

She regretted the decision now. Maybe if she had mentioned them earlier, he would have come back to Earth with her sooner. They could have avoided the majority of this whole fiasco and be together, right here.

"Thanks, Bulma. I heard...um, girls like it short nowadays. Yours is great too. I...like it long."

Bulma managed a light smile at his words, but her stomach felt sick, twisted with unwelcomed nausea. She quickly looked away from Yamcha and looked back to Goku, "You have to catch me up on everything. Did you guys escape Emperor Pilaf?"

Krillin narrowed an eyebrow, "Who?"

"Yeah we did! That giant monster came and destroyed his whole castle!" Goku said, triumphantly, as if he knew he had been the one to do it the whole time.

_Really?_ Bulma remembered her own desire for the Oozaru to teach Pilaf a lesson. She took one glance at Yamcha, whose face immediately paled at the memory.

Goku continued, ignoring the strange expressions surrounding him, "And then after that I went to go train with Master Roshi for the tournament. There I met Krillin and Launch, who you should probably meet a little later since she has the sniffles right now. And then we went to the city where we met Yamcha again! He had been training and trying to find the dragon balls to wish you back."

"You were?" Bulma laughed when she saw the thin shade of red appear on Yamcha's cheeks. It was hard not thinking of Vegeta. Hell, she _wanted_ to think of him, but it kept making her mind hazy. The thoughts of him only brought unbearable sensations of guilt. She had unknowingly abandoned him and couldn't do a damn thing about it without threatening her planet. She shrugged her blue hair in front of her face, trying to hide her impending sad frown. "That's sweet of you, Yamcha."

The teenage boy went closer to her, eyes never meeting her face, too shy to look up. "I...realized you helped grant my wish already. When we were in Pilaf's castle, I wasn't afraid to be around you...not as badly as I was anyway. I wanted to...thank you."

"And ruin my wish, huh?" She accused jokingly. It had ruined her time with Vegeta, and to be honest, she was mad about that. But Yamcha was just looking out for her. They were all just trying to help her. But she still felt empty. "Thanks, Yamcha." Though she didn't feel thankful at all.

Goku waved his hands, "Let me finish! So then Yamcha asked if I knew where you had gotten the dragon radar. And of course I didn't, but I told him I have it and that I wanted to find my Grandpa after the tournament. And after that giant monster attacked, it took 3 months to rebuild the arena so that me and Jackie Chun could continue our fight. But right after that we found them all! It was real easy with Nimbus. Master Roshi said we should have wished for the moon to come back, but as soon as Yamcha said we were wishing for _you_ he got really excited."

_Of course he would. Pervert._

Goku scratched his head, "We already found him one girl though. I don't know why he could possibly want two. That just seems silly."

Krillin sighed and patted his friend on the back, "Goku, if you ever have children, it'll truly be a blessing."

"Children? Krillin, people don't have children," he said, voice completely serious.

His friend's mouth dropped open, tongue falling out in exasperation. "Then where, Goku, do children come from? Please tell me."

"Why the sky of course!"

Both Yamcha and Krillin looked too stun to speak, forcing Goku to elaborate, "That's what Grandpa said anyway. I asked him how I ever got to him, and he said I fell right out of the sky!"

_Should I tell him he's a Saiyan?_ But how could she even begin to explain something like that? '_Oh hey, Goku, I met your prince while I was gone. Yeah, your prince. You're a Saiyan, didn't you know? What's a Saiyan? Oh just some practically extinct warrior alien race. You have an older brother too. Why are you here? Well, you were originally sent here to kill us.'_

That'd go over well.

"Ughh," Krillin groaned. "No wonder you're so dumb. You probably landed on your head."

"Hey, that's not very nice!" Goku retorted, his tail swishing in slight anger.

"Sorry, Goku, but it's true. Forget about children. You'd be lucky if you even get married."

"Married? Oh! You mean that food, Chichi was talking about!"

The bald boy looked at his friend despairingly and then patted him on the back. "Let's go back into the house, Goku."

"Oh? Does Master Roshi have some inside?"

Krillin pushed his younger friend on the back, grumbling all the way to the Kame House door. They left Bulma and Yamcha relatively alone, only the crabs and nearby fish as company. Puar had returned back through the window of the small beach house at Yamcha's gesturing.

"Did you get your wish?" Yamcha asked suddenly, no longer stuttering but still relatively far away.

"No."

It had fallen out of her mouth before she could even think. She hadn't gotten the perfect boyfriend. She was sent to a world she barely understood, to do what? To meet and like this prince only to have him slammed out of her life? There was no chance in seeing him again, even if he were alive. _He has to be alive._ He was millions of miles away, light years, universes. Whatever. It didn't matter. He was stuck there and she couldn't go back. _I could wish him here._

But that thought quickly left her. How would she explain that one? Vegeta, the stubborn, scorned prince was going to be what? Her guest? Her boyfriend? He just didn't fit in this small world, not while Frieza still haunted him like a ghost. _If he's even alive. _And even if she did bring him here, Frieza could follow him. Raditz and Nappa knew she was from Earth, didn't they? And she couldn't exactly trust them. No...wishing him here wasn't an option. Them being together was no longer one either.

She would try to forget that incident, write it off as some cosmic fluke.

"I'm sorry. I would have tried to wish you back sooner if I knew," Yamcha said suddenly. She felt him approach her from behind, dark eyes, dark hair on her. He was a fighter. Like Vegeta. He was a bandit, something dangerous, something adventurous.

Didn't she love adventure?

"No you're not." Bulma snapped her body around, catching Yamcha by surprise. She was distracting herself, placing her hands on her hips in over exaggerated annoyance.

"Bu-Bulma..."

His awkwardness made her smile, so familiar. "You wanted me back, didn't you? Not that I can blame you," she smiled cockily.

Yamcha just continued to blush, "You're something...else. I'm not sure I'll ever understand girls."

"Allow me to help you." She offered Yamcha her hand, and he looked at her curiously before taking it, holding his breath and trying his hardest not to pass out. Her voice was so soft. "I mean, it'd be..."

Convenient. Simple. Easy.

Those were the words she wanted to say. Uncomplicated. Effortless. Everything that she and Vegeta weren't. Bulma's smile deflated, her sudden thoughts of the prince leaving her speechless.

Yamcha just nodded, biting his lip, too shocked to speak. His grip on Bulma's hand tightened, causing the blue haired girl to crack a grin.

"We can go inside if you want. I'd like to see Oolong."

"I'm glad... you're here with me, Bulma."

She blushed slightly at Yamcha's words, letting herself try to forget, though it currently seemed impossible. Bulma was back in her own world now, that simple little world where people didn't wish for freedom or unlimited power. Little tiny emperors would try and aim for world domination, but they wouldn't know what to do with it once they had it. They didn't want to kill everyone on the planet, turning the place into a spa or a resort, all to fulfill some sick desire. Here you just wanted to get over phobias. Little boys wanted to find their grandpas. The older ones just wanted to talk to girls, not escape their slave drivers. And girls foolishly wanted perfect boyfriends, a wish that was truly impossible.

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A/N:

This chapter is basically for explanatory purposes. Sequel will be posted some time next week, once I figure out some sort of clever name (trust me, it won't be clever, I'm awful with titles). Two chapters are done, and they're all about 4000-5000 words, so that's something to look forward to! I'll write more tonight before I get slammed with tests. Um...yeah. I hope you enjoyed this story, and I want to thank you all again. Some of you have been with me since the beginning, and you guys are fantastic. All of you new readers are wonderful as well. Thank you all for making my first multi-chapter DBZ experience a truly memorable one! I wish all of you luck and happiness, and I'll be updating again! This isn't the last of me :D


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